A Pair of Mustachios Class 11 NCERT Solutions 2026-27

Concept used. A character answer should infer nature from action, speech and choices. In this episode, Ramanand and Azam Khan are shown through their argument over the moustache.

1. Ramanand is a grocer and moneylender who has become rich through trade.
2. He is shrewd, calm and practical. He understands that Azam Khan's pride is stronger than his need for money.
3. He first lowers one tip of his moustache to keep the business moving.
4. When Khan demands more, Ramanand raises the price of obedience by asking for more valuables.
5. This shows business acumen, patience and clever manipulation.
6. Azam Khan is proud, impulsive and tied to old ideas of nobility.
7. He has almost no property left, yet he treats the tiger moustache as a sacred symbol of family honour.
8. He is emotionally sincere but foolish, because he sacrifices real possessions for a symbol.

Concept used. Business acumen means skill in judging profit, risk and customer behaviour. Ramanand shows it by turning a quarrel into a series of profitable transactions.

1. Before the moustache episode, Ramanand has already profited from the fall in wheat prices by buying crops cheaply and selling later at higher prices.
2. When Khan first comes to pawn the nose-ring, Ramanand lowers one tip of his moustache to keep the customer satisfied.
3. He accepts Khan's insult without anger because the business matters more to him than pride.
4. When Khan demands the second tip to be lowered, Ramanand says that a bigger concession requires more expensive jewellery.
5. This prompts Khan to bring a family necklace, which Ramanand accepts as another pawned item.
6. Ramanand then lets the other tip rise, knowing that Khan's pride will force a larger bargain.
7. Finally, he makes Khan sell all his goods and chattels in return for a written promise about the moustache.
8. He gets the deed signed before witnesses, so the bargain becomes legally and socially secure.

Concept used. A fixed view can be either rigid pride or steady practical purpose. Azam Khan is fixed in social pride, while Ramanand is fixed in profit and advantage.

1. Azam Khan's fixed view is that only a man of noble ancestry may wear the tiger moustache.
2. He treats Ramanand's upturned moustache as an attack on his inherited rank.
3. Ramanand's fixed view is that business profit matters more than symbolic honour.
4. He is willing to lower his moustache if the price is right.
5. Towards the end, Ramanand gets Khan to transfer all his household goods and chattels.
6. The deal is written and witnessed, so Ramanand's gain becomes secure.
7. Khan walks away with his moustache still upright, but he has become a pauper.
8. Ramanand loses nothing important, because his honour is not tied to moustache style.

Concept used. Social mores are accepted customs and habits of a community. Anand uses humour to ridicule customs based on class, inherited rank and empty prestige.

1. The story mocks the habit of judging people by outward signs such as moustache style.
2. It ridicules the obsession with ancestry and blue blood.
3. It questions feudal pride, where a poor man still behaves as if birth gives him natural superiority.
4. It also mocks commercial respectability, because Ramanand's wealth comes with cunning and opportunism.
5. The village accepts class boundaries as if they were natural laws.
6. Even the landlord, priest and elders support the performance of honour rather than question its absurdity.
7. The humour exposes how social hierarchy can become petty, cruel and ridiculous.

Concept used. Literary references often widen a local incident into a larger social comment. The references to English people and the monarchy place Indian class vanity beside colonial forms of status.

1. The narrator says that outsiders may find Indian moustache customs strange, but every society has its own symbols of rank.
2. The English are mentioned with frock coats, striped trousers and top hats.
3. This comparison suggests that European class signs are also artificial and costly.
4. The references to His Majesty and Her Majesty mock the formal language of imperial approval.
5. Rajas, nawabs and English army generals are grouped together through the lion moustache.
6. This links Indian feudal pride with colonial power and public display.
7. The references help the satire move beyond one village quarrel to a broader critique of status symbols.

Concept used. The message of a satire is usually found by asking what human weakness is being exposed. Here the weakness is blind pride in social symbols.

1. The story shows that class signs can become more important to people than real welfare.
2. Khan loses property because he cannot bear a moneylender imitating the tiger moustache.
3. His pride is inherited, but it does not feed his family or preserve his house.
4. Ramanand's cleverness shows another truth: practical intelligence often defeats empty prestige.
5. The village society supports the dispute instead of questioning its foolish basis.
6. Anand suggests that rigid social hierarchy harms judgment.
7. The final image is comic and sad: Khan keeps his proud moustache but becomes poorer.

Concept used. Theme introduction means how the opening prepares the reader for the main idea. Anand introduces the theme through a comic classification of moustaches.

1. The story opens not with Ramanand or Khan, but with a general comment on moustaches.
2. The narrator says that moustaches mark class boundaries in his country.
3. He lists lion, tiger, goat, Charlie Chaplin, sheep and mouse moustaches.
4. Each style is linked with a social group, from rulers to peasants.
5. The tone is playful, but the classification shows a rigid social world.
6. This prepares the reader to understand why Khan takes Ramanand's moustache so seriously.
7. The opening also makes the later quarrel comic because the reader already sees the absurdity of the system.

Concept used. Dialogue adds direct speech, pace and character. In this story, dialogue makes the moustache quarrel lively and reveals personality without long explanation.

1. Dialogue brings the quarrel between Khan and Ramanand directly before the reader.
2. Khan's harsh words show his anger, pride and aristocratic contempt.
3. Ramanand's calm replies show his control and business sense.
4. The landlord, priest and peasants add the voice of the village community.
5. Their comments make the scene feel public, like a small village performance.
6. The back-and-forth movement creates suspense about how far Khan will go.
7. Dialogue also increases humour because Khan sounds grand while the issue remains a moustache tip.

Concept used. Many French words and expressions have entered English, especially in writing about food, art, society, fashion and public life.

1. Rendezvous means a meeting or meeting place.
2. Debut means a first public appearance.
3. Cuisine means a style of cooking.
4. Cliche means an overused expression or idea.
5. Faux pas means a social mistake.
6. Bon voyage means good wishes for a journey.
7. Carte blanche means full freedom to act.
8. Entrepreneur means a person who starts and runs a business.
9. Avant-garde means new, experimental or ahead of its time.

Concept used. Indian idiom in English often reflects local speech patterns, social relations and culturally rooted expressions. Anand's prose carries this flavour throughout the story.

1. ``seed of a donkey'' reflects an Indian style of insult translated into English.
2. ``lentil-eating shopkeepers'' carries caste and class contempt in a local idiom.
3. ``the pride of generations of his ancestors'' reflects inherited family honour.
4. ``the symbol of his honour'' shows the cultural weight given to external signs.
5. ``goods and chattels'' is formal English, but in context it evokes household possessions in a traditional setting.
6. ``come to your senses'' is used in the bargaining scene with a familiar spoken rhythm.
7. ``my father was a Sultan'' reflects boastful lineage in a direct Indian social idiom.

Concept used. This exercise tests common English collocations. A collocation is a natural word partnership, such as ``keep one's word'' or ``make ends meet''.

1. We say keep one's word. It means to do what one promised.
2. We say make one's will. It means to prepare a legal document about property after death.
3. We say make ends meet. It means to manage one's expenses with available income.
4. We say take out a loan. It means to borrow money formally.
5. We say turn a deaf ear to. It means to ignore a request or warning.