Yearly Archives: 2022

(b) be a watchman

(c) walk the street all night

(c) a hawker

(a) noun

(b) carefree life

(b) be punished for soiling his clothes

(a) unhappy

(c) envious

Answer: (d) the discipline

Answer: (c) freedom

Answer: (c) the speaker

Answer: (a) the child sleeps

Answer: (b) people are asleep

(c) a school-going child

(d) the discipline

(d) the freedom

(a) Vocation

(b) spender

(a) R.N. Tagore

(c) freedom

(c) the speaker

(d) spade

(b) sight

(d) freedom

(c) free

(a) the child sleeps

(c) a child

(c) adjective

(a) it is night

(b) people are asleep

(c) lantern

(d) likes the life of a watch man

(b) lone

Important Questions

Question 1.
Who is the speaker in the poem? Who are the people the speaker meets? What are they doing?
Answer:
A school-going child speaks in the poem. The speaker meets a hawker, a gardener and a watchman. The hawker sells bangles. The gardener digs the ground. The watchman keeps a watch in the street at night.

Question 2.
What wishes does the child in the poem make? Why does the child want to be a hawker, a gardener, or a watchman? Pick out the lines in each stanza, which tell us this.
Answer:
The child in the poem wants to be a hawker, a gardener, and a watchman. When he looks at the hawker, he wishes he could also spend his day on the road crying “Bangles, crystal bangles!” He feels that there is nothing to hurry the hawker on. There is no road he must take, no place he must go to, and no fixed time when he must come home. These are the things that he cannot do himself and therefore, he wants to be a hawker so that he could do all these things.

Next, he wishes he was a gardener because a gardener does what he likes with his spade. He soils his clothes with dust. Nobody scolds him if he gets baked in the sun or gets wet. Therefore, if the little child was a gardener, nobody would stop him from digging. Finally, he sees the watchman and wants to be like the watchman so that he could walk through dark and lonely streets all night with his lantern and chase shadows.

When he is put to bed and is not allowed to roam outside, he see the watchman swinging his lantern with his shadow at his side and he feels that the watchman never even once has to go to bed in his entire life. Therefore, he wants to be a hawker, a gardener, and a watchman so that he could do all the things they did as he could not do them being a child.

Question 3.
From the way the child envies the hawker, the gardener and the watchman, we can guess that there are many things the child has to do, or must not do. Make a list of the do’s and don’ts that the child doesn’t like. The first line is done for you.

The child must
come home at a fixed time.
………………..
……………….

The child must not
get his clothes dirty in the dust.
……………..
……………….
Now add to the list your own complaints about the things you have to do, or must not do.
Answer:
The child must
come home at a fixed time
Go to bed when it get dark
Go to school everyday
Please do yourself.

The child must not
get his clothes dirty in the dust.
Get baked in the sun or get wet
Walk on dark and lonely street at night.

Question 4.
Like the child in the poem, you perhaps have your own wishes for yourself. Talk to your friend, using “I wish I were…”
Answer:
Please do yourself.

Question 5.
Find out the different kinds of work done by the people in your neighbourhood. Make different cards for different kinds of work. You can make the card colourful with pictures of the persons doing the work.
Answer:
Please do yourself.

Vocation Extra Questions and Answers Reference of Context

Question 1.
When the gong sounds ten in the morning and
I walk to school by our lane,
Every day I meet the hawker crying, “Bangles,
crystal bangles!”
There is nothing to hurry him on, there is no
road he must take, no place he must go to, no
time when he must come home.
I wish I were a hawker, spending my day in
the road, crying, “Bangles, crystal bangles!”

Explanation
The poet walks to the school lane when the gong rang at ten in the morning. On the way, he meets a Bangle seller who sells crystal bangles. He need not to hurry and worry as the poet has to. He is jealous of the hawker because he is not restricted from going anywhere. He is also not forced to reach home on time. The poet wishes to be a hawker and sell bangles in the streets.

(i) Who wrote the poem?
(ii) At what time does the poet go to school?
(iii) What does the hawker cry to sell bangles?
(iv) What does the poet say about the life of the hawker?
(v) Give the meaning of‘crystal’.
Answer:
(i) Rabindranath Tagore wrote the poem.
(ii) The poet goes to school at 10 a.m.
(iii) The hawker cries “Bangles, crystal bangles” to sell his bangles.
(iv) The poet says that the hawker has freedom.
(v) Highly transparent glass.

Question 2.
When at four in the afternoon I come back from the school,
I can see through the gate of that house the gardener digging the ground.
He does what he likes with his spade, he soils
his clothes with dust, nobody takes him to
task, if he gets baked in the sun or gets wet.
I wish I were a gardener digging away at the
garden with nobody to stop me from digging.

Explanation
The poet witnesses the freedom of choice of the gardener whom he comes across on the way home. The gardener digs the ground with the spade. His dress is soiled with dust, but still he is not scolded by anyone. He is free to be in sunlight or get wet in the rains. The poet wishes to bask in the sun and get drenched in the rains. He wants to enjoy freedom of digging the ground.

(i) Whom does the poet see at four in the afternoon?
(ii) Where does the poet see him?
(iii) What does the gardener do with the spade?
(iv) What is the wish of the poet?
(v) Give the meaning of baked.
Answer:
(i) The poet sees the gardener at four in the afternoon.
(ii) The poet sees him through the gate of a house.
(iii) The gardener does what he likes with his spade.
(iv) The poet wishes that nobody should stop him if he were a gardener.
(v) (a) Food cooked by dry heat in an oven.
(b) Stay in sunlight for long hours.

Question 3.
Just as it gets dark in the evening and my
mother sends me to bed,
I can see through my open window the
watchman walking up and down.
The lane is dark and lonely, and the street lamp
stands like a giant with one red give in its head.
The watchman swings his lantern and walks
with his shadow at his side, and never once
goes to bed in his life.
I wish I were a watchman walking the street
all night, chasing the shadow with my lantern.

Explanation
The poet’s mother compels the poet to slip into bed. The poet sees through his window a watchman doing his duty. The lanes are dark and desolate. The poet describes that he looks like a giant with one red eye in its head. The lantern saving here and there in his hand. The poet wants to chase his shadow like him.

(i) Who sends the poet to bed?
(ii) Whom does he see through his window?
(iii) How does the poet describe the street lamp?
(iv) What was his reason of comparison?
(v) Choose the word similar to ‘torch’.
Answer:
(i) The poet’s mother send him to bed.
(ii) He sees a watchman through his window.
(iii) The poet describes the street lamp as a giant with one red eye in its head.
(iv) He does not wish to go to bed early and wants to roam around in streets chasing his own shadow.
(v) Lantern