QUESTIONS FROM TEXTBOOK SOLVED

Think and Tell
1.Jatrya felt alone, even in a crowd of people. Have you ever felt like this?
Ans. Yes, there are times when I feel alone even in a crowd of people. Once I was in market which was full of people. As I did not know anybody, so I felt alone.

2.Imagine how it feels to leave one’s own place and go far away to live in a new – place.
Ans. It must be very difficult to leave one’s own place and go far away to live in a new place. Everything will be new in the new place. The people, the market, the roads; everything will look like stranger in the new place.

3.Why do you think families like that of Jatrya’s are coming to big cities?
Ans. Smaller cities do not have much of opportunities. Poor people and people who want to earn more than what they are earning often migrate to big cities. Big cities have lot of opportunities. Variety ofworks is available in big cities. This is the reason families like that of Jatrya’s are coming to big cities.

4.Have you seen any children (in your school or neighbourhood) who also go to work?
Ans. Yes, I have seen some children from my neighbourhood who go to work. I regularly see many children, selling various items on traffic junctions.

5.What kind of work do they do? Why do they have to work?
Ans. These children do many types of work. Some examples are given below:
(a) Rag picking (b) Cleaning the car
(c) As domestic help (d) Selling sundry items near footpath
They need to work to support their family. Their parents do not earn enough and hence these children need to work.

Tell
1.In Khedi village what all did children learh?
Ans. Children in Khedi village learnt dancing, playing flute and dhol, making vessels and other things from bamboo and clay and recognising birds and imitating their sounds.

2.What do you learn from your elders?
Ans. We learn following from our elders:
(a) Respecting elders
(b) Sticking to a routine by sleeping and waking up on time and by studying and playing as per the routine.
(c) Maintaining love and affection with friends and relatives
(d) Helping in household chores

3.Jatrya learnt so many things in Khedi. How many of those would be useful for him in Mumbai?
Ans. Some of the skills which Jatrya learnt in Khedi can be useful for him in Mumbai. Some of them are; fish catching, selling goods in the market, playing dhol, etc. Jatrya can utilise these skills to earn some money in Mumbai.

4.Do you hear the sounds of birds everyday? Which ones?
Ans. Yes, I hear sounds of some birds. For example; guttar-guttar of pigeon, kav- kav of crow and chi-chi of sparrow.

5.Can you imitate the sound of any bird? Show how.
Ans. I can imitate the sound of a crow. (Demonstrate in your class)

6.What are some of the sounds that you hear everyday, but the people of Khedi may not be hearing?
Ans. Some of the sounds which people of Khedi may not be hearing are;
(a) Horns of vehicles,
(b) Sound of trains,
(c) Sound of police siren Yes, I can imitate these sounds.

7.Have you experienced silence? When and where?
Ans. Yes, I do experience silence. When I go to sleep at night then I experience silence.

Discuss and Tell
1.Many people in Jatrya’s village did not agree to move away from their land and forest. Why? They had to leave even though they did not want to. Why?
Ans. The land and forest were associated with fond memories of many generations of people. Their forefathers had been living on that land since a long period. They were forced to leave the place by government officials and the police. Moreover, they were also promised to be sent to a better place. They were promised that the new place would have better facilities in terms of electricity and water.

2.In Khedi, how many people were there in Jatrya’s family? When he thought about his family who all came to his mind?
Ans. There were three people in Jatrya’s family in Khedi; his father, mother and Jatrya . himself. But for Jatrya, the whole village was like a big family. When he thought about his family, he thought about his future wife and future children. Whenever he felt lonely, he used to think about his family.

3.Who all come to your mind when you think about your family?
Ans. When I think about my family, then my parents, my grandparents, cousins and their parents come to my mind.

4.Have you heard of people who don’t want to be moved from their old place? Talk about them.
Ans. Yes, my grandparents do not want to live their old place. When they come to live with us, they get bored in no time. They say that they don’t feel comfortable in cramped space in cities. They love to enjoy the fresh and open air of a village.

5.Do you know some people who have never been to school? Do you also know of any place where there is no school?
Ans. Yes, the maidservant who comes to our house has never been to school. She had said that there is no school in her village which is in the state of West Bengal.

Imagine
1.Think of the kinds of difficulties people have to face where a dam is being built.
Ans. People have to face many difficulties where a dam is being built. Some of them are discussed below:
(a) Houses and farms get destroyed.
(b) Thousands of people are forced to leave their homes where they have been living for many generations.
(c) They are relocated to a new area which does not provide as much facilities as was promised to them.
(d) Starting the life in a new set up presents many challenges.
(e) They have to struggle very hard to develop the support system; which
includes schools, markets, etc.

2.Draw a picture of Khedi village and a picture of Jatrya’s dream village. Discuss the differences between them. Also look at the pictures your friends have drawn.
Ans.

Write
1.Was Sinduri village like the village of Jatrya’s dreams?
Ans. Sinduri village was not like the village of Jatrya’s dreams.

2.What difference did he find between Sinduri and his dream village?
Ans. Nothing was ideal as Jatrya once dreamt about an ideal village. The houses in Sinduri were made of tin Sheets and were very weak. There was no electricity supply in Sinduri. Jatrya had to bum old tyre as fuel. It was difficult to tolerate the bad stench of burning tyre. There was no open space in Sinduri. There was neither school nor hospital in Sinduri.
Thus, Sinduri was radically different from Jatrya’s dream village.

3.Have you ever been to anyone’s house as an ‘unwanted guest’? How did you feel?
Ans. Yes, once I had been to one of my friend’s house. His family members did not welcome me and nobody talked to me. I felt like an ‘unwanted guest’.

4.What all does your family do, when you have guests at home for a few days?
Ans. When guests come to our home for a few days, we pay full attention and respect to them. We take care that they have a comfortable stay. My mother makes special food for them so that they can enjoy their stay. My father takes a day off to take them to some good places.

Think
1.What had Jatryabhai thought while moving to Mumbai? Did he find Mumbai as he had imagined?
Ans. The problems of Sinduri village made Jatrya think as if he was an ‘unwanted guest’ in the village. He wanted to leave Sinduri. As he could not go back to Khedi so he thought of moving to Mumbai.
He did not find Mumbai as he had imagined. It was difficult to live in Mumbai.

2.What kind of school do you think Jatrya’s children would be going to in Mumbai?
Ans. Jatrya’s children would be studying in government school in Mumbai.

Find Out and Write
1.Do you know of any family that has come to your town after having moved out of their place? Talk to them and find out:
Ans. Yes, the maidservant who comes to our house has come from a small village in Bengal.

2.From where have they come? Why did they have to come here?
Ans. She has come from a small village in Bengal. She came to Delhi as there was severe flood in her village.

3.What kind of place did they live in there? How do they find this new place compared to the old one?
Ans. They are living in a nearby slum. Houses are made of tin sheets and roofs are made of plastic sheets. There is a big drain near the slum which makes the area unhygienic.

4.Is their language and way of living any different from that of the people here? In what ways?
Ans. Her native language is Bengali and she is uncomfortable with Hindi. She can just manage to communicate with others, in her broken Hindi.

5.Learn some words from their language and write them in your notebook.
Ans. Some words which people from Bengal use in their lingo are as follows:

6.Do they know how to make some things that you cannot make? What?
Ans. Some of the dishes made in their home are new to me. For example; they ‘Bhappa Ilish’. A child makes beautiful toys from dry palm leaves.

7.Have you ever read or heard of a city slum being removed? How do you feel about this?
Ans. Yes, recently there was news of a slum being removed from an area near Yamuna. I felt very bad when I read the news. People who are very poor live in slums. For them finding a shelter is very difficult. The government should do some arrangements before razing the slum.

8.People also shift from one place to another when they get transferred in their jobs? How do they feel then?
Ans. Transfers are an integral part of many jobs. It is always difficult to leave a place and start life afresh in a new place. One has to do lot of packing and unpacking during transfers. One needs to leave close friends from a place and needs to make friends with new people. A child has to move to a new school in a new environment. This is difficult but I think it is challenging also.

Debate
1.Some people say that—“The city people do not create garbage. Cities are dirty because of the slums”. How do you feel about this? Discuss and debate between yourselves.
Ans. It is totally incorrect to put all the blame on slum dwellers. City people also produce lot of garbage. Many people in middle class colonies throw garbage on the roads. In order to keep their homes clean they throw all the waste on the roads. Slums also develop because of city people. Government constructs new dams, roads, factories, etc. to cater to the needs of city people. As a result displaced people from villages are forced to leave their place and move to cities. These poor people cannot afford good houses and hence they develop slums.

What We Have Learnt
1.Like Jatrya’s family, thousands of families come to stay in big cities for many different reasons. Do you think their life may be better in a big city from what it was before? Imagine how they feel in a big city.
Ans. Many people migrate to big cities for different reasons. Life in a big city is difficult and different than it was before.
It is true that a big city offers many opportunities but there are many more challenges. One has to compromise with limited space in big cities. Poor people are forced to live in unhygienic conditions. They may be earning more than what they earned in villages but they are unable to save money because of the higher cost of living in big cities.
They also face the problem of language if they are not comfortable with the mainstream language of the city. They are often subject to ridicule because of their distinct culture. They are unable to afford medical facilities and quality education.