NCERT Book Class 11 English (Hornbill) Chapter 5 The Adventure

5. The Advent ur e
J ayant Nar likar

Notice these expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.

 blow-by-blow account  de facto
 morale booster  astute
 relegated to  doctored accounts
 political acumen  gave vent to

The Jijamata Express sped along the Pune-Bombay* route considerably
faster than the Deccan Queen. There were no industrial townships
outside Pune. The first stop, Lonavala, came in 40 minutes. The ghat
section that followed was no different from what he knew. The train
stopped at Karjat only briefly and went on at even greater speed. It
roared through Kalyan.
Meanwhile, the racing mind of Professor Gaitonde had arrived at a
plan of action in Bombay. Indeed, as a historian he felt he should have
thought of it sooner. He would go to a big library and browse through
history books. That was the surest way of finding out how the present
state of affairs was reached. He also planned eventually to return to
Pune and have a long talk with Rajendra Deshpande, who would surely
help him understand what had happened.
That is, assuming that in this world there existed someone called
Rajendra Deshpande!
The train stopped beyond the long tunnel. It was a small station
called Sarhad. An Anglo-Indian in uniform went through the train
checking permits.
“This is where the British Raj begins. You are going for the first
time, I presume?” Khan Sahib asked.

The present story is an adapted version. The original text of the story can be consulted
on the NCERT website : www.ncert.nic.in
* Now known as Mumbai