Poets and Pancakes by Asokamitran
Class 12 English Core | Flamingo, Prose Chapter 6
NCERT Solutions, Summary, Detailed Notes, Word Meanings and MCQs
Poets and Pancakes is an excerpt from Asokamitran's book My Years with Boss. It describes life at Gemini Studios in Madras (now Chennai). Through humorous accounts of make-up artists, the office boy, Kothamangalam Subbu, the legal adviser and two unexpected visitors, the author explores ambition, workplace relationships, literary interests and political attitudes.
1. About the Author
Asokamitran (1931–2017) was a prominent Tamil writer known for his understated style and quiet humour. His book My Years with Boss draws on his experiences at Gemini Studios, one of the major film studios of early Indian cinema.
At Gemini Studios, Asokamitran's job was to cut out newspaper clippings on different subjects and file them. Although the work appeared unimportant, it allowed him to observe the people and culture of the studio. In this chapter, he uses those observations to create a humorous picture of studio life.
2. Summary of Poets and Pancakes
Asokamitran begins by describing the make-up department of Gemini Studios. The studio bought large quantities of Pancake, a brand of make-up material. The make-up room had many mirrors surrounded by incandescent bulbs. Their heat made the process uncomfortable, which the author calls the “fiery misery” of those who had to undergo make-up.
The department had a strict hierarchy. The chief make-up man worked on the leading actors, while assistants handled other performers. The office boy was responsible for applying make-up to crowd players. Despite his name, he was a man in his early forties. He had joined the studio hoping to become a star actor, screenwriter, director or lyric writer, but remained dissatisfied with his job.
The office boy often visited Asokamitran's cubicle and delivered long lectures about his wasted literary talent. He blamed Kothamangalam Subbu, who was regarded as the studio's No. 2, for his own lack of progress.
Subbu was close to the Boss, S. S. Vasan. He was cheerful, loyal and full of practical ideas. When the producer had difficulty developing a scene, Subbu could suggest several solutions. He was also a poet, novelist and actor. His generosity towards relatives and acquaintances is another feature of his character. Some colleagues, however, thought his closeness to the Boss and his readiness to praise others made him look like a sycophant.
The Story Department also had a legal adviser. During an incident involving a temperamental actress, he recorded her angry words and played them back to her. Although the recording contained nothing seriously offensive, hearing her own voice shocked her. She never recovered from the experience, and her acting career came to an end. The legal adviser did not intend this outcome, but his action had an unfortunate result.
The studio staff generally wore khadi and admired Gandhi, but the author suggests that many of them had little understanding of political ideas. They were suspicious of Communism. In 1952, Frank Buchman's Moral Re-Armament (MRA) group visited Madras. Its members staged two plays, Jotham Valley and The Forgotten Factor, which impressed the studio staff and influenced the style of some Tamil stage productions.
A few months later, an English poet visited Gemini Studios. The staff did not know who he was and could not follow his speech. The author later discovered that the visitor was Stephen Spender, editor of the literary periodical The Encounter. He identified him after finding the periodical while researching a short-story competition.
Years later, Asokamitran bought a cheap copy of The God That Failed, a collection of essays by six writers describing their journeys into Communism and their disillusionment with it. Stephen Spender was one of the contributors. This helped the author understand why Spender's visit had mattered to the Boss: the Boss may not have been interested in Spender's poetry, but he was interested in the political ideas associated with the book.
3. Detailed Notes
3.1 Pancake and the Make-up Department
- Pancake was a brand of make-up material bought in large quantities by Gemini Studios.
- The make-up room resembled a hair-cutting salon, with large mirrors and incandescent lights.
- The heat from the lights caused discomfort to the actors and other people undergoing make-up.
- The make-up department followed a hierarchy: the chief make-up man worked on the leading actors, assistants handled other performers, and the office boy applied make-up to crowd players.
- The author humorously suggests that make-up could turn a decent-looking person into a “hideous” figure. The point is not that the artists wanted to make actors ugly; it is that the make-up looked unnatural in ordinary conditions but was intended to work under studio lights.
3.2 National Integration
The make-up department included people from several regions and communities. A Bengali headed the department first. He was succeeded by a Maharashtrian, who was assisted by a Dharwar Kannadiga, an Andhra, a Madras Indian Christian, an Anglo-Burmese and local Tamils.
The author calls this “national integration” with gentle irony. People from different backgrounds worked together long before national integration became a common theme in radio and television programmes.
3.3 The Office Boy
The office boy was a man in his early forties, not a young boy. He had joined the studio with hopes of becoming a star actor, screenwriter, director or lyric writer. Instead, he applied make-up to crowd players. He believed that his literary talent was being wasted and repeatedly complained about his position.
He blamed Subbu for his frustration. This reveals his jealousy and his tendency to direct his anger towards one person. The narrator's account is humorous, but it also shows the disappointment that can follow when ambitions are not fulfilled.
3.4 The Narrator's Job
Asokamitran worked in a cubicle, cutting up newspapers and filing clippings. To people who saw him tearing newspapers, the job looked like doing nothing. The office boy used these quiet moments to lecture him about literature and the waste of his own talent. The narrator's description of these visits adds humour to an otherwise ordinary office routine.
3.5 Kothamangalam Subbu: The Studio's No. 2
Subbu was close to S. S. Vasan, the Boss of Gemini Studios. He was resourceful and could offer several solutions when a producer had difficulty developing a scene. He was able to turn an incomplete idea into a workable film sequence.
Subbu was also a poet. He chose to write poetry for ordinary readers, using folk rhythms and language. He wrote the novel Thillana Mohanambal, with many carefully drawn characters, and was a talented actor who often performed well in supporting roles.
He was generous to relatives and acquaintances and supported many people. At the same time, his closeness to the Boss and his readiness to praise others made some people suspect that he was a sycophant. The narrator presents these qualities with humour rather than offering a simple judgement.
3.6 The Legal Adviser
The legal adviser belonged to the Story Department, which included writers and poets. While the others generally wore khadi, he wore Western clothes, making him appear different from the rest of the group.
During an angry outburst by a talented actress, he switched on the recording equipment and played her words back to her. The words were not seriously offensive, but hearing her own voice shocked her. She never recovered from the incident, and her brief acting career ended. The narrator says that the legal adviser brought about this result unwittingly: the story does not establish that he deliberately set out to ruin her career.
Later, the Boss closed the Story Department. The author jokes that it was an unusual situation in which a lawyer lost his job because the poets were asked to leave.
3.7 Communism and the Studio's Political Attitudes
Many writers at Gemini Studios wore khadi and admired Gandhi, but the author suggests that their political understanding was limited. They were generally averse to the word “Communism” and repeated exaggerated ideas about Communists being opposed to family ties and social peace.
The chapter is satirical. The narrator is describing the political assumptions circulating in the studio, not claiming that every employee had the same political beliefs or that these assumptions were accurate.
3.8 The Moral Re-Armament Group
Frank Buchman's Moral Re-Armament group visited Madras in 1952. The group was large and international. It staged Jotham Valley and The Forgotten Factor, and the studio staff and many local people admired the productions.
The simple messages, costumes and stage effects impressed the audience. For several years, Tamil plays copied the sunrise and sunset scenes used in Jotham Valley. The narrator later understood MRA as a counter-movement to international Communism. He also questions whether the visit really changed the outlook of the studio's leaders.
3.9 Stephen Spender's Visit
A few months after the MRA visit, an English poet came to Gemini Studios. The staff did not know his identity. Some thought he was an editor, but the audience could not understand his speech, partly because most of the staff spoke Tamil and were unfamiliar with the visitor's literary references and accent.
The narrator later read an announcement in The Hindu about a short-story competition organised by The Encounter. He went to the British Council Library to learn more about the periodical and discovered that its editor was Stephen Spender, the poet who had visited Gemini Studios.
3.10 The God That Failed
Years later, Asokamitran bought a low-priced copy of The God That Failed. It contained six essays by writers who described their journeys into Communism and their disillusionment with it. Stephen Spender was one of the contributors.
This discovery helped the narrator understand the mystery of the visit. The Boss may not have been interested in Spender's poetry, but he was interested in the political ideas associated with the book.
4. Important People in the Chapter
The narrator and author. His job was to cut out newspaper clippings and file them. He observes studio life with quiet humour and irony.
The Boss of Gemini Studios. He was also the editor of the Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan.
A man in his early forties who applied make-up to crowd players. He was frustrated because his ambitions in acting and writing had not been fulfilled.
The studio's No. 2, a loyal and resourceful man who helped solve film-making problems. He was also a poet, novelist and actor.
A member of the Story Department. His decision to record and play back an actress's angry words had an unintended and damaging effect on her career.
An English poet and editor of The Encounter. His visit confused the studio staff because they did not know who he was or understand his speech.
The leader associated with the Moral Re-Armament movement, whose group visited Madras and staged plays at Gemini Studios.
A talented but temperamental performer. Hearing her own angry words played back shocked her, and she never recovered from the incident.
5. Themes and Literary Features
Gentle Humour
The narrator describes people and situations in a way that makes their weaknesses visible without attacking them directly. Examples include the office boy's long lectures, the make-up room's “fiery misery” and the uncertainty surrounding Stephen Spender's visit.
Satire
The chapter gently criticises workplace jealousy, excessive admiration of powerful people and political opinions that people repeat without understanding. The author uses humour to reveal these weaknesses.
Ambition and Frustration
The office boy had hoped to become a successful actor or writer, but he remained in a minor job. His frustration leads him to blame Subbu. His story shows the gap between ambition and achievement.
Workplace Hierarchy
The make-up department had a clear hierarchy, and Subbu occupied a powerful position because of his closeness to the Boss and his practical usefulness. The chapter shows how influence and relationships can shape a workplace.
Poetry and Film
Several poets and writers worked at Gemini Studios, yet their literary interests existed alongside the practical demands of film production. Subbu was able to work in both worlds, although his film success overshadowed his poetry in the eyes of some critics.
Political Attitudes
The chapter shows how political ideas circulated through cultural organisations, plays and public figures. Its treatment of Communism and MRA is satirical and should be read in the context of the period rather than as a statement that every studio employee shared the same views.
Incongruity
Incongruity means a mismatch between things that do not seem to belong together. Stephen Spender's serious speech about English poetry to a largely Tamil-speaking studio audience creates such a mismatch. The visitor and his audience do not share the knowledge needed to understand each other.
6. Important Words and Expressions
| Word or expression | Meaning in context |
|---|---|
| Blew over | In this context, launched into an angry or emotional outburst. |
| Was struck dumb | Was so shocked or surprised that she could not speak. |
| Catapulted into | Thrown suddenly into a new situation or position. |
| A coat of mail | Protective armour made of linked metal rings; the phrase describes the legal adviser's coat by comparison. |
| Played into their hands | Acted in a way that helped another person or group achieve its purpose. |
| The favourite haunt | A place visited often by a person or group. |
| Heard a bell ringing | Experienced a vague feeling of recognition or memory. |
| Fiery misery | Great discomfort caused by the heat of the incandescent lights in the make-up room. |
| Hierarchy | A system in which people have different ranks or levels of authority. |
| Sycophant | A person who praises someone powerful in order to gain favour. |
| Temperamental | Likely to react strongly or change moods suddenly. |
| Incongruity | A mismatch between things that seem unsuitable together. |
| Disillusionment | The loss of a belief or ideal after discovering that it does not match reality. |
| Rambling style | A style in which the writer moves from one idea to another, often with detailed digressions. |
| Foible | A small weakness or fault in a person's character. |
| Satire | Humour or irony used to expose faults in people, institutions or society. |
| Idiosyncrasy | A distinctive habit or feature of a person's behaviour. |
7. NCERT Solutions: Think as You Read
Part I: Make-up Department and the Office Boy
1. What does the writer mean by ‘the fiery misery’ of those subjected to make-up?
Answer: The make-up room had large mirrors surrounded by incandescent bulbs. These lights produced intense heat, making the process uncomfortable for the actors and other performers who had to undergo make-up.
2. What is the example of national integration that the author refers to?
Answer: The make-up department employed people from different regions and communities. It was first headed by a Bengali and later by a Maharashtrian, who worked with people including a Dharwar Kannadiga, an Andhra, a Madras Indian Christian, an Anglo-Burmese and local Tamils. The author humorously calls this national integration.
3. What work did the ‘office boy’ do in the Gemini Studios? Why did he join the studios? Why was he disappointed?
Answer: The office boy applied make-up to crowd players. He had joined the studio hoping to become a star actor, screenwriter, director or lyric writer. He was disappointed because he remained in a minor job and believed that his literary talent was being wasted.
4. Why did the author appear to be doing nothing at the studios?
Answer: The author's job was to cut out newspaper clippings and file them. People who saw him tearing newspapers thought he was doing very little, although the work was part of his assigned duties.
Part II: Subbu and the Story Department
1. Why was the office boy frustrated? Who did he show his anger on?
Answer: The office boy was frustrated because his ambitions in acting and writing had not been fulfilled. He believed that his talent was being wasted and blamed Kothamangalam Subbu, whom he saw as a major reason for his own lack of progress.
2. Who was Subbu's principal?
Answer: Subbu's principal was S. S. Vasan, the Boss of Gemini Studios. Subbu was loyal to him and used his creativity to help the studio's film-making work.
3. Subbu is described as a many-sided genius. List four of his special abilities.
Answer: Subbu was a practical problem-solver in film-making, a poet, a novelist and a talented actor. He could suggest several ways to develop a scene and could also write for a wide audience.
4. Why was the legal adviser referred to as the opposite?
Answer: He was officially called the legal adviser, but the staff used the opposite label because his actions could create problems rather than solve them. The incident involving the actress is an example: his recording and playback of her angry words contributed unintentionally to the end of her acting career.
5. What made the actress so unhappy?
Answer: After the actress angrily criticised the producer, the legal adviser played a recording of her words back to her. Hearing her own voice shocked her. She never recovered from the incident and did not appear on screen again.
6. Why did the Story Department close?
Answer: The Boss closed the Story Department. The author treats the decision humorously, observing that it was an unusual situation in which the lawyer lost his job because the poets were asked to go home.
Part III: MRA and Stephen Spender
1. Did the people at Gemini Studios have any particular political affiliations?
Answer: The author suggests that many staff members wore khadi and admired Gandhi, but did not have a deep understanding of political thought. They were generally suspicious of Communism and repeated exaggerated beliefs about Communists. This is the narrator's satirical account of the attitudes he observed.
2. Why was the Moral Re-Armament group welcomed at the studios?
Answer: The MRA group was welcomed because it presented its plays professionally and impressed the studio staff and people in Madras. Its productions had simple messages but effective sets and costumes. The group also provided an unusual and enjoyable experience for the studio community.
3. Name one example to show that Gemini Studios was influenced by the plays staged by MRA.
Answer: For several years, Tamil plays copied the sunrise and sunset scenes from MRA's Jotham Valley. These scenes used a bare stage, a white background curtain and a tune played on the flute.
4. Who was the Boss of Gemini Studios?
Answer: S. S. Vasan was the Boss of Gemini Studios. He was also the editor of the popular Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan.
5. What caused the lack of communication between the Englishman and the people at Gemini Studios?
Answer: Most of the studio staff spoke Tamil and were unfamiliar with the English poet's literary references. They also found his accent difficult to understand. As a result, they could not follow his speech.
6. Why is the Englishman's visit referred to as an unexplained mystery?
Answer: The staff did not know who the English visitor was or why he had come to the studio. They could not understand his speech and were puzzled by the idea of an English poet addressing people who had little opportunity to cultivate an interest in English poetry. The mystery was solved only when the narrator later identified him as Stephen Spender.
Part IV: The Visitor's Identity
1. Who was the English visitor to the studios?
Answer: The visitor was Stephen Spender, an English poet and editor of the literary periodical The Encounter.
2. How did the author discover who the English visitor to the studios was?
Answer: The narrator saw an announcement in The Hindu about a short-story competition organised by The Encounter. He visited the British Council Library to learn about the periodical. When he saw Stephen Spender's name as its editor, he recognised him as the poet who had visited Gemini Studios.
3. What does The God That Failed refer to?
Answer: The God That Failed is a collection of six essays by writers who described their journeys into Communism and their later disillusionment with it. Stephen Spender was one of the contributors. Reading the book helped the narrator understand why Spender's visit had interested the Boss.
8. NCERT Solutions: Understanding the Text
1. The author has used gentle humour to point out human foibles. Pick out instances of this to show how this serves to make the piece interesting.
Answer: The author uses humour to expose small weaknesses without attacking people harshly. He describes the hot make-up room as a place of “fiery misery”, and the office boy's long lectures become so tiresome that the narrator wishes for crowd-shooting to begin. Subbu's closeness to the Boss and his habit of offering praise invite humorous speculation about whether he is a sycophant. The staff's confused response to Stephen Spender's visit also creates humour. These episodes make the chapter lively while revealing jealousy, ambition, limited political understanding and workplace hierarchy.
2. Why was Kothamangalam Subbu considered No. 2 in Gemini Studios?
Answer: Subbu was considered No. 2 because he was close to the Boss and was extremely useful to him. He could quickly suggest practical solutions when a film scene was difficult to develop. He was cheerful even when a film failed, loyal to the Boss and able to turn his creativity towards the studio's needs. He was also a poet, novelist and actor. Some colleagues thought that his closeness to the Boss and readiness to praise others made him appear like a sycophant, but his practical ability and loyalty explain his important position.
3. How does the author describe the incongruity of an English poet addressing the audience at Gemini Studios?
Answer: The English poet spoke about the experiences of an English poet to an audience that was largely Tamil-speaking and unfamiliar with his work. The staff could not follow his speech because of the language and accent, and they did not understand why an English poet had come to a studio producing Tamil films for ordinary audiences. The speaker himself must also have sensed the mismatch. The contrast between the subject of the speech and the audience's interests makes the episode incongruous.
4. What do you understand about the author's literary inclinations from the account?
Answer: The author was interested in writing prose and wanted to submit a short story to a competition organised by The Encounter. His description of writers as patient and persistent people who continue sending manuscripts despite rejection shows that he understood the difficulties of a writing career. His search for information about the periodical eventually helped him identify Stephen Spender.
9. NCERT Solutions: Talking About the Text
These are discussion prompts. The responses below are sample points, not the only acceptable answers.
1. Film-production today has come a long way from the early days of the Gemini Studios.
Sample response: Film production has changed greatly since the days described in the chapter. Digital cameras, computer-generated effects, modern editing software and improved sound technology have changed how films are made. Make-up techniques and lighting equipment have also improved. However, the basic need for teamwork, creative planning and actors who can perform convincingly remains. A comparison should recognise both technological change and the continuing importance of human skill.
2. Poetry and films.
Sample response: Poetry and films are different forms of expression, but they often support each other. Films use lyrics, rhythm, imagery and figurative language to express emotions. At Gemini Studios, poets and writers worked alongside people involved in film production. Subbu shows that literary ability can be useful in cinema, although the demands of popular films may differ from those of literary poetry.
3. Humour and criticism.
Sample response: Humour can expose faults without sounding openly hostile. In this chapter, the author uses irony to describe jealousy, workplace hierarchy, political assumptions and the confusion surrounding Stephen Spender's visit. Because the criticism is gentle, readers can recognise the weaknesses being described without feeling that the writer is simply attacking the people involved.
10. NCERT Activity: Noticing Transitions
The chapter has a chatty, rambling style. The author often moves from one topic to another through an association of ideas. A possible outline of the main transitions is given below.
- Make-up department: Pancake, the make-up room, the heat and the department's hierarchy.
- Office boy: His work on crowd players, his ambitions and his complaints.
- Asokamitran's cubicle: The office boy's visits lead to the narrator's own job.
- Subbu: The office boy's complaints lead to a description of the person he blames.
- Story Department: Subbu's position leads to the department and the legal adviser.
- Political attitudes: The khadi-clad writers lead to the studio's views on Communism.
- MRA visit: The political context leads to the group's plays and their influence on Tamil theatre.
- Stephen Spender: The next visitor leads to the mystery of the English poet.
- The Encounter: The narrator's writing ambitions help him discover Spender's identity.
- The God That Failed: The later discovery of the book finally explains why the Boss may have been interested in Spender.
These transitions give the chapter its conversational quality. Each new topic grows out of a detail in the preceding one rather than following a strictly chronological argument.
11. NCERT Writing Activity
Task: Write a humorous piece about an interesting person in your neighbourhood or among your relatives. Try to adopt the author's rambling style.
How to approach the task
- Choose a real person whose habits are distinctive but harmless.
- Begin with one habit or incident that catches your attention.
- Allow the incident to lead to related observations and memories.
- Use gentle humour rather than insulting the person.
- End with a thought that connects the details or gives the person a human quality.
Short sample opening
Every neighbourhood has someone who knows everything about everyone. In our lane, that person is the man who waters his plants at exactly seven in the morning. He knows which family has bought a new scooter, whose gate needs painting and who returned home late the previous night. His garden is small, but his knowledge of the neighbourhood appears to have no boundaries.
This opening is only a model of tone and technique. Continue with your own observations and examples.
12. NCERT Activity: Things to Do
Task: Collect about twenty cartoons from newspapers or magazines and discuss how important people or events are satirised. Comment on the relationship between words and pictures.
Points to consider
- What person, event or social problem is being criticised?
- Which details in the picture make the criticism clear?
- Do the captions support the picture, or do they create irony by saying something unexpected?
- Does the cartoon criticise a person's behaviour, an institution or a wider social attitude?
- Is the humour gentle, sharp or openly aggressive?
For a class activity, students can present two cartoons each and explain the point of view behind them. Use cartoons from sources you are permitted to reproduce in class.
13. Interactive Quiz: Poets and Pancakes
Choose one answer for each question and select Check My Score. You can change your answers and try again.
14. Tips for Exams
- Remember that Poets and Pancakes is an excerpt from Asokamitran's My Years with Boss.
- Explain the phrase “fiery misery” through the heat of the incandescent lights in the make-up room.
- For Subbu, discuss his creativity, loyalty, practical suggestions, poetry, acting and generosity. Do not reduce his position to flattery alone.
- For the legal adviser, distinguish the action he took from its unintended effect on the actress's career.
- For the MRA section, remember both plays and the influence of Jotham Valley on Tamil theatre.
- Explain why Stephen Spender's visit seemed mysterious and how the narrator later identified him.
- Use specific incidents to explain humour and satire rather than simply saying that the chapter is funny.
- For discussion questions, present a clear point, support it with an example and explain its significance.
15. Quick Revision
| Topic | Key point |
|---|---|
| Author | Asokamitran, a Tamil writer |
| Source | My Years with Boss |
| Setting | Gemini Studios, Madras (now Chennai) |
| Pancake | A brand of make-up material |
| Office boy | A man in his early forties whose ambitions remained unfulfilled |
| Subbu | The studio's No. 2; a loyal and resourceful creative worker |
| Legal adviser | Recorded and played back an actress's angry words, with an unintended effect on her career |
| MRA | Visited Madras in 1952 and staged Jotham Valley and The Forgotten Factor |
| Stephen Spender | English poet and editor of The Encounter |
| The God That Failed | A collection of six essays about writers' experiences with Communism |
| Main literary feature | Gentle humour, irony and satire in a chatty, rambling style |
Textbook Reference
Read the complete chapter and the original exercises in the Class 12 Flamingo chapter: Poets and Pancakes. Use your prescribed NCERT edition to check the exact wording of textbook questions and expressions.
These notes are a study aid. The full chapter remains essential for understanding the narrator's humour, the sequence of events and the political context.
