TOPIC 21 OF 27
A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand
🎓 Class 11
English
CBSE
Theory
Ch 2 — Short Stories: A Pair of Mustachios
⏱ ~25 min
🌐 Language: [gtranslate]
📖 English Passage Assessment
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This CBSE English Passage Assessment will be based on: A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand
Assessment Format:
• 2 Short Answer Questions (2 marks each) = 4 marks
• 2 Fill in the Blanks Questions (1 mark each) = 2 marks
• 2 Short Answer Questions (1 mark each) = 2 marks
• 2 Multiple Choice Questions (1 mark each) = 2 marks
Total: 8 Questions, 10 Marks
📖 English Grammar Assessment
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This CBSE English Grammar Assessment will be based on: A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand
Assessment Format:
• 10 Randomized Grammar Questions (1 mark each)
• Question Types: Fill in the Blanks, MCQs, Error Identification, Reported Speech, Sentence Completion
Total: 10 Questions, 10 Marks
📖 English Vocabulary Assessment
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This English Vocabulary assessment will be based on: A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand
Targeting Vocabulary & Usage with Intermediate difficulty.
📚 Before You Read — A Pair of Mustachios
1. In Indian society (and many others), symbols of identity — dress, titles, accents — are used to signal class and status. Can you think of modern equivalents of the "mustachio" as described by Anand?
Modern equivalents include: luxury brand logos, certain car models, English-medium accents, professional titles (IAS/IPS prefix), mobile phone brands, club memberships, and even Instagram follower counts. Anand's central insight — that symbols substitute for actual power — is as contemporary as ever. The story satirises the human need to externalise status rather than earn it through substance.
2. What does the term nouveau riche mean? How is it different from "old money"? Why might there be tension between the two?
Nouveau riche (French: "newly rich") refers to those who have recently acquired wealth, as opposed to established aristocratic or old-money families. The tension arises because old families consider their status "earned" over generations, while the newly wealthy are seen as lacking cultural refinement. This story places Seth Ramanand (new money, commercial class) against Khan Azam Khan (old nobility, no money) — and watches the symbols of status collide with comic and satirical results.
3. Vocabulary warm-up: Guess meanings — blue blood / goods and chattels / amenable / imperturbable / excommunicate.
blue blood — noble birth or aristocratic lineage | goods and chattels — all movable personal possessions | amenable — willing to agree or comply; cooperative | imperturbable — not easily disturbed; calm no matter what | excommunicate — officially exclude from membership of a religious community.
A Pair of Mustachios — Annotated Passage
§1The narrator opens with a sociological survey: in his country, mustachios function as permanent class markers, the way coats and top hats function in Europe. Satire There is the lion moustache of maharajas and army generals; the tiger moustache of the old feudal gentry, worn with nothing but pride and old scrolls of honour; the goat moustache of the nouveau riche commercial class — worn so its tips can be turned up or down to impress the powerful or humble oneself before a client; and the mouse moustache of the peasantry. Imagery Each style is, the narrator observes ironically, "as rigorously adhered to as if patented by the Government of India." Irony
§2In this context, Seth Ramanand — the village grocer and moneylender, prospering from buying wheat cheap from distressed farmers and selling it at profit — decides to twist his goat moustache upward at the tips, so that it closely resembles the tiger moustache. Most villagers, deep in his debt, do not dare object. But Khan Azam Khan does.
§3Khan Azam Khan is a tall, dignified Muslim nobleman, descendant of Afghan courtiers who once served the Moghul emperors. He still wears a tiger moustache and the faded remnants of a gold-brocaded waistcoat — though he has not a scrap of land left. His neighbours say his claims to blue blood are the bluff of a rascal; others acknowledge his ancestry but as sweepers. What is certain is that his pride greatly exceeds his possessions. Irony
§4One morning Khan Azam Khan visits the moneylender's shop to pawn his wife's gold nose-ring. He notices the upturned tips of Ramanand's moustache and erupts: "Since when have lentil-eating shopkeepers become noblemen?" Ramanand, ever the pragmatist, obligingly brushes one tip down. But — whether by deliberate cunning or convenient accident — the other tip remains up. The Khan is furious; Ramanand is blandly imperturbable. Irony
§5What follows is a sustained comic battle of wills. To get the second tip lowered, Azam Khan returns with his wife's necklace — seven generations old — and pledges it. Ramanand takes the necklace and lowers that tip. But now the first tip is back up. The Khan threatens murder; the moneylender counters with smooth reasonableness. Eventually Ramanand offers a deal: the Khan may have both tips permanently down if he sells all his remaining household goods and chattels. A deed is drawn up before five village elders, signed, sealed. Irony
§6The transaction is complete. Azam Khan walks away, now a pauper, but maintaining the proud upward twist of his own tiger moustache. As soon as his back is turned, Ramanand mutters to the peasants: "My father was a Sultan." The villagers laugh. The Khan has lost everything material; Ramanand has gained everything material — and is now, in private, claiming precisely the aristocratic identity he publicly denied. Satire Irony
👤 Character Map — Power & Pride
📚 Vocabulary — Word Power
nouveau riche French phrase
Newly rich people who have recently acquired wealth, often implying lack of cultural refinement.
"The goat moustache worn by the nouveau riche commercial bourgeoisie."
bourgeoisie n.
The middle class; in Marxist analysis, the property-owning class who control means of production.
"The new commercial bourgeoisie who somehow don't belong."
amenable adj.
Open to persuasion; willing to agree; compliant.
"The moneylender, who was nothing if not amenable."
imperturbable adj.
Unable to be disturbed or upset; permanently calm.
"The moneylender said, waving his hand with an imperturbable calm."
mementoes n. pl.
Objects kept as a reminder of a person, place, or event; souvenirs of the past.
"A few mementoes of past glory — scrolls of honour."
inordinately adv.
Excessively; to an unreasonable degree.
"He was inordinately jealous of his old privileges."
forthwith adv.
Immediately; without any delay.
"He forthwith had a deed prepared by the petition writer."
excommunicate v.
To officially exclude someone from participation in a religious community.
"I shall excommunicate him from religion if he doesn't keep his word."
💬 Notice These Expressions — The Indian Idiom
blue blood
Noble lineage; aristocratic birth — Khan's claim to Moghul court ancestry.
the bluff of a rascal
A deliberate deception — here, the village's dismissal of the Khan's ancestry claims.
goods and chattels
All personal movable property; everything one owns. Legal term used satirically.
asked sourly
Spoke with bitter, resentful displeasure — the Khan's tone when he confronts Ramanand.
✍ Extract-Based Questions (CBQ Format)
"Only, as soon as Khan Azam Khan's back was turned he muttered to the peasants seated nearby: 'My father was a Sultan.' And they laughed to see the Khan give a special twist to his moustache as he walked away maintaining the valiant uprightness to the symbol of his ancient and noble family, though he had become a pauper."
L2 Understand
Q1. What is the significance of Ramanand's remark "My father was a Sultan" at the end of the story?
Ramanand's whispered claim that his father was a Sultan, made the moment Azam Khan's back is turned, is the story's most devastating irony. Having forced the Khan to surrender all his possessions to preserve his aristocratic identity, Ramanand now privately claims the same aristocratic status for himself. He does not even wait for social proof or legitimacy — he simply asserts the lie. This reveals that the entire dispute was never about honour but about power. Ramanand has won the economic battle and now casually annexes the cultural one too.
L4 Analyse
Q2. How does the story satirise class pretensions in colonial Indian society?
Anand's satire operates at multiple levels. The mustachio — a physical, grooming habit — is treated with the same gravity as legal rights or constitutional entitlements, exposing the absurdity of symbols substituting for substance. Azam Khan, who represents the decaying feudal order, destroys his material existence to protect a moustache style — showing how pride in empty symbols causes actual harm. Ramanand, the new commercial class, exploits this pride methodically. The village elders, landlord, and priest — all supposed authorities — simply ratify the transaction. Anand implies that every social class in India is complicit in maintaining a system of hollow distinctions.
L4 Analyse
Q3. Identify TWO instances of irony in the story and explain their effect on the reader's understanding of the theme.
Irony 1: Khan Azam Khan, who claims superior ancestry, is reduced to pawning his wife's jewellery to feed his family — yet he is willing to sell all his remaining possessions to protect a symbolic moustache style. The irony underlines how aristocratic pride, detached from economic reality, becomes self-destructive.
Irony 2: The moneylender, who insists his moustache is merely a "milk-skimmer" and not like the Khan's noble tiger moustache, secretly claims his own father was a Sultan the moment the transaction is complete. The irony reveals the entire dispute as a charade: both men wanted the same symbol; only one had the cunning to acquire it cheaply.
Irony 2: The moneylender, who insists his moustache is merely a "milk-skimmer" and not like the Khan's noble tiger moustache, secretly claims his own father was a Sultan the moment the transaction is complete. The irony reveals the entire dispute as a charade: both men wanted the same symbol; only one had the cunning to acquire it cheaply.
L5 Evaluate
Q4. Who, in your view, is the more foolish character — Ramanand or Azam Khan? Justify your evaluation with evidence from the text. (150 words)
While Azam Khan's behaviour appears more obviously foolish — he trades material reality for symbolic pride — Ramanand's "cleverness" conceals its own form of folly. Azam Khan at least acts on a consistent, if irrational, value system: he believes in the old order and pays its price honestly. Ramanand, by contrast, profits from a system he privately regards as absurd. His final whisper — "My father was a Sultan" — reveals that he too is susceptible to the very class vanity he has just exploited. He is not above it; he merely manipulates it more effectively. In that sense, Ramanand is the more self-deceiving of the two: he has convinced himself that cunning is wisdom. Anand's satire targets both equally — the hot-headed feudal fool who sells his house for a moustache, and the cool-headed pragmatist who reveals the same status-hunger the moment he wins.
📖 Understanding the Text — Model Answers
L3 Apply
1. Identify instances in the story that show Ramanand's business acumen.
Ramanand demonstrates sharp business intelligence throughout. First, he has enriched himself by purchasing wheat cheaply from debt-pressed peasants and reselling it at higher prices — exploiting their vulnerability systematically. Second, when the Khan confronts him about the moustache, he immediately identifies the emotional lever: lower one tip (satisfying the Khan) while keeping the other up (maintaining the upper hand). Third, he ties each concession to a commercial transaction — first the nose-ring, then the necklace. Finally, he engineers the grand transaction in which the Khan surrenders all household goods for a permanently lowered moustache tip. At each stage Ramanand extracts maximum material value while appearing reasonable and accommodating. The maxim "the customer is always right" is his smokescreen for relentless acquisition.
L4 Analyse
2. How does the insertion of dialogue contribute to the story's interest and satire?
The dialogue is the story's primary satirical engine. Anand captures the Indian idiom vividly: the Khan's abuse ("seed of a donkey," "lentil-eating shopkeepers") reveals feudal hauteur stripped of any real power; Ramanand's smooth, deferential language ("I humbled myself because you are doing business with me") exposes the transactional nature of his seeming submission. The landlord's neutral, enabling interjections — "That seems fair enough" — show how the village power structure supports the moneylender. The dialogue moves the satire from the abstract (the opening survey of mustachio types) to the concrete: we watch class war fought in real time, one moustache tip at a time. The comedy lies in the gap between what is at stake symbolically (honour, nobility) and what is actually being transacted (gold, land, household pots).
✍ Language Work — Loanwords & Collocations
Exercise 1 — French borrowings: Nouveau riche and bourgeoisie are French words used in English. Collect other French loanwords commonly used in English journalism and literature (e.g., faux pas, en masse, carte blanche). Group them by domain: politics, food, fashion, literature.
Politics: coup d'état, raison d'être, détente, communiqué
Food: hors d'oeuvre, crêpe, bouillon, filet
Fashion: haute couture, chic, avant-garde, ensemble
Literature/Culture: genre, critique, résumé, cliché, déjà vu, naïve, ambiance
Food: hors d'oeuvre, crêpe, bouillon, filet
Fashion: haute couture, chic, avant-garde, ensemble
Literature/Culture: genre, critique, résumé, cliché, déjà vu, naïve, ambiance
Exercise 2 — Collocations with verbs: "We draw up a deed." Complete these phrases with the appropriate verb: (a) ___ one's word; (b) ___ one's will; (c) ___ ends meet; (d) ___ a loan; (e) ___ a deaf ear to.
(a) keep one's word — to fulfil a promise | (b) make one's will — to write a legal document distributing one's property | (c) make ends meet — to have just enough money for basic needs | (d) take out / repay a loan — to borrow/return money formally | (e) turn a deaf ear to — to deliberately ignore or refuse to listen.
Exercise 3 — Locate expressions reflecting the "Indian idiom": Identify three phrases in the story that are distinctively Indian in their rhythm, vocabulary, or cultural reference.
1. "the pride of generations of his ancestors" — the use of "generations" (in the plural, stretching back across time) as the source of pride is a specifically South Asian/Indian rhetorical pattern.
2. "Achcha" — A Hindi/Urdu interjection meaning "all right" or "I agree," untranslated and left in the original, marking the authentic Indian setting.
3. "benediction" used repeatedly by Srinath — here it means monetary gift; the sacred word applied to a commercial transaction captures the Indian blurring of the divine and the transactional.
2. "Achcha" — A Hindi/Urdu interjection meaning "all right" or "I agree," untranslated and left in the original, marking the authentic Indian setting.
3. "benediction" used repeatedly by Srinath — here it means monetary gift; the sacred word applied to a commercial transaction captures the Indian blurring of the divine and the transactional.
✍ Writing Task — Satirical Short Essay
Prompt: "Anand uses the mustachio as a vehicle to ridicule not one class but all classes simultaneously." Write an analytical essay examining how the story's satire is directed at the feudal order, the commercial class, and the village establishment alike. (250–300 words)
Essay Structure:
Introduction — Define satire; state that Anand distributes it equally among all social groups.
Para 1 — Azam Khan's pride: the self-destruction of the feudal order.
Para 2 — Ramanand's cunning: new money's exploitation of old symbols.
Para 3 — The village establishment (landlord, priest, elders): institutional complicity.
Conclusion — What does this say about colonial Indian society? Is Anand hopeful or despairing?
Introduction — Define satire; state that Anand distributes it equally among all social groups.
Para 1 — Azam Khan's pride: the self-destruction of the feudal order.
Para 2 — Ramanand's cunning: new money's exploitation of old symbols.
Para 3 — The village establishment (landlord, priest, elders): institutional complicity.
Conclusion — What does this say about colonial Indian society? Is Anand hopeful or despairing?
| Criterion | Excellent (5) | Good (3) | Needs Work (1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argument | Multi-layered, clearly targeted | Identifies two layers | Only one target discussed |
| Textual evidence | Specific, well-integrated | Present, partially analysed | Vague references |
| Understanding of satire | Distinguishes comic/critical elements | Some awareness | Treats as simple comedy |
| Expression | Precise, analytical vocabulary | Clear but limited | Informal/unclear |
FAQ
What is A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand about?
A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand is a lesson from the NCERT English textbook covering important literary and language concepts with vocabulary, literary devices, and exercises.
What vocabulary is in A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand?
Key vocabulary words from A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand are highlighted with contextual meanings and usage examples throughout the lesson.
What literary devices are in A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand?
A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand uses various literary devices including imagery, symbolism, and figurative language identified with coloured tags.
What exercises are in A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand?
Exercises include extract-based comprehension questions, grammar workshops, vocabulary activities, and writing tasks with model answers.
How does A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand help exam prep?
A Pair of Mustachios — Mulk Raj Anand includes CBSE-format questions and model answers following Bloom's Taxonomy levels L1-L6.
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