“I now work in a tea-stall down the road”,he says ,pointing in the distance. “I am paid 800 rupees and all my meals.” Does he like the job? I ask. His face ,I see ,has lost the carefree look. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulder. The bag was his. The canister belongs to the man who owns the tea shop,Saheb is no longer his own master.
a. Who is “I” in “I ask”?
b. What work has Saheb now taken?
c. Why is the steel canister heavier than the plastic bag metaphorically too?
d. What do you mean by “Saheb is no longer his own master”?
Answers
Answer:
Which one should I Ans Pls confirm
Answer:
“Why do you do this?” I ask Saheb whom I encounter every morning scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps of my neighbourhood. Saheb left his home long ago. Set amidst the green fields of Dhaka, his home is not even a distant memory. There were many storms that swept away their fields and homes, his mother tells him. That’s why they left, looking for gold in the big city where he now lives.
Scrounging – searching for
Amidst – in the middle of
Every morning, the writer sees a young ragpicker boy who visits the garbage dump near her house and searches for ‘gold’ in it. The writer says that he searches for ‘gold’ ironically because although the garbage dump is full of useless, thrown away things, still he shuffles it so minutely as if he will get something as precious as ‘gold’ from it. The boy’s name is Saheb. His home in Dhaka was in the middle of lush green fields. They had left it many years ago and he does not remember it anymore. His mother had told him that there were many storms which destroyed their homes and fields. So, they left home and shifted to the cities in search of ‘gold’. The writer again says, “looking for gold in the big city”. Gold here refers to something precious which was not available in their hometown. Things like shoes, money, bags, etc. for the children and food, clothing, shelter as means of survival for their parents. The boy searches for such precious things in the garbage dumps. One day the writer questions Saheb and asks him the reason for shuffling through the garbage.
“I have nothing else to do,” he mutters, looking away.
“Go to school,” I say glibly, realising immediately how hollow the advice must sound.
“There is no school in my neighbourhood. When they build one, I will go.”
“If I start a school, will you come?” I ask, half-joking.
Mutters – to speak in a low voice
Glibly - speaking or spoken in a confident way, but without careful thought or honesty
Hollow – meaningless
Saheb replies to the writer that he has nothing else to do other than rag picking. The writer suggests that he should go to school. She realizes that her advice is meaningless for the poor boy. He replies that there are no schools in the area where he lives. He also assures her that he will go to school when one is built near his house. The writer asks him jokingly that if she opened a school would he attend it.
“Yes,” he says, smiling broadly. A few days later I see him running up to me. “Is your school ready?”
“It takes longer to build a school,” I say, embarrassed at having made a promise that was not meant. But promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak world.
Embarrassed - feeling ashamed
abound - exist in large numbers
bleak – empty
Saheb says that he would join the writer’s school and after a few days, he runs up to her to ask whether her school is ready. The writer replied that it takes a lot of time to build a school. She felt ashamed at making a false promise. She had said this as a joke and had never intended to open a school, so she felt ashamed of herself. Saheb was not hurt because he was used to such false promises as they existed in large numbers in his empty world. He was surrounded by such false promises made by everyone around him. His world was empty as no promise made to Saheb was ever fulfilled.