Chapter 3 Solutions — Dreams and Discoveries

No, Anand was not able to keep his promise.

His promise to Ma was that he would not do anything with the time machine until his parents returned. However, while they were away, a thief named Boppa broke into the house at night. Anand misdirected Boppa into his own room, where the time machine was kept. The thief accidentally activated the machine, which produced loud, eerie noises. When the neighbours searched the room, Boppa had disappeared completely — only his green scarf remained near the panel of switches.

So although Anand did not deliberately operate the machine, the machine did get 'used' in his room while his parents were away — which was exactly what Ma had asked him to prevent.

(i) Past perfect: 'had rushed'. Simple past: 'found'.

Ma had rushed in (past perfect — action completed before the main event) and found (simple past — the action she performed when she arrived) Papa standing there.

(ii) Past perfect: 'had vanished', 'had cooled down'. Simple past: 'reappeared'.

Anand had vanished (past perfect — he disappeared before the next events) and reappeared (simple past — a specific completed action); Papa had cooled down (past perfect — his cooling happened before Anand reappeared).

The clearest example of alliteration in the poem is 'big black letters' — the 'b' sound is repeated in consecutive words ('big black'). Tagore uses sound patterns sparingly; this is the most prominent alliterative pair in the poem.