8. Jalebis

The Jalebis

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65

1. Why didn’t he pay the school fees
on the day he brought money to the school?

Answer: The teacher who was in
charge of collecting the fees was on leave on that day. So the child did not
pay the school fees on the day he brought the money.

 

2. (i) What were the coins ‘saying’
to him?

(ii) Do you think they were
misguiding him?

Answer: The coins were ‘saying’ to
him to buy jalebis and enjoy them. The money was meant for the school fees and
coins were tempting him to divert it for the pleasure of jalebis.

 

3. Why didn’t he take the coins’
advice? Give two or three reasons.

Answer: He was an honest boy. He was
studious and had an image to protect in the school. He did not want to misuse
the money meant for school fees. He did not want to get caught doing wrong
things.

 

4. (i) What did the oldest coin tell
him?

Answer: The oldest coin advised him
to buy jalebis on that day and pay the fees from scholarship money. The
scholarship money was to arrive on the very next day. The boy was proud of getting
a scholarship and did not want to hurt his reputation.

 

(ii) Did he follow his advice? If
not, why not?

Answer:- He did not follow the
coin’s advice.

5. He reached home with the coins in
his pocket. What happened then?

Answer: When he reached home the
coins started to choke their voices in an effort to persuade the boy. Then the
boy ran towards the shop selling jalebis to follow coin’s advice.

 

 

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1. (i) Why didn’t he eat all the
jalebis he had bought?

Answer: The quantity of jalebis was
too much to be finished by one child alone.

 

(ii) What did he do with the
remaining jalebis?

Answer: He ate as much as he could.
Later on, he distributed rest of them to children in the street.

 

2. “The fear was killing me.” What was
the fear?

Answer: The fear of getting caught
of doing the dishonest act was killing him. If he would have refused to have
dinner then everyone would have asked for the reason. He could not even fake an
illness because he feared that the doctor would be in a position to know about
jalebis.

 

3. “Children’s stomachs are like
digestion machines.” What do you understand by that? Do you agree?

Answer: This statement is to convey
the robust digestive ability of children’s stomach. As children are constantly
growing and spend their time in lots of physical activities so usually they can
digest more than usual diet.

 

4. How did he plan to pay the fees
the next day?

Answer: He was expecting his
scholarship to come the next day. From that money, he had planned to pay his
fees.

 

5. When it is time to pay the fees,
what does he do? How is he disobeying the elders by doing so?

Answer: After he fled from the
school he reached the railway station. His elders had always advised him
against crossing the railway line, but he was hell bent on crossing that line.

 

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1. What was the consequence of
buying jalebis with the fees money?

Answer: The consequences of buying
jalebis were worse than what the boy expected. It was as if even the God wanted
to teach him a lesson. He got the news that his scholarship money would be paid
the next month. He was at a loss for how to get out of that situation. So, he fled
from the school and went to sit under an isolated tree near the railway station
to hide himself from everybody.

 

2. His prayer to God is like a
lawyer’s defence of a bad case. Does he argue his case well? What are the
points he makes?

Answer: He made good arguments in
his defence. He gave examples of his being an ideal child till the jalebi
mishap. He said that he was a good student and was a good follower of the
religious scriptures as well. So God should help him out of the bad situation
he was in.

 

3. He offers to play a game with
Allah Miyan. What is the game?

Answer: He said that he would run to
touch the signal and come back and in the meantime, God can put four rupees
either in his bag or below the rock. This would delight him.

 

4. Did he get four rupees by playing
the game? What did he get to see under the rock?

Answer: Magic doesn’t happen in the
real life. He didn’t get the desired money under the rock. When he lifted the
rock he was horrified to see a hariy worm coiled up like a coin.

5. If God had granted his wish that
day, what harm would it have caused him in later life?

Answer: If God had granted his wish
that day it would have been bad for his future. There was a danger of him
falling into the bad habit of misuse of money. He would have become dependent
on the God for all problems of his life.

 

 

 

 

2. Discuss the
following points.

1. Is the boy intelligent? If so, what
is the evidence of it?
Answer-
 Yes, the boy
was intelligent. In school, he was among the most promising students. In his
fourth standard exam, he had won a scholarship of four rupees a month. He was
also going to get the previous month’s scholarship on the day he had to pay his
fees. Also, he had never been absent from school.

2. Does his outlook
on the jalebis episode change after class VIII? Does he see that episode in a
new light?
Answer
– Up to class VIII,
he kept wondering what harm it could have possibly caused anyone if God had
sent him four rupees that day. However, later, he came to the conclusion that
if God were to provide all for the asking, then man would still be living in
nests such as vultures and crows, and would not have learnt the art of making
jalebis. By this, he meant that man would not make any efforts at all if God
gave him everything he wished for.

3. Why are coins made
to ‘talk’ in this story? What purpose does it serve?
Answer
– Coins are made to
‘talk’ in the story to show the greedy nature of the boy. His good nature,
which prevented him from spending money on jalebis, comes out in the form of
the words spoken by him. His greed, which was pushing him to get the jalebisand
devour them, is brought out in the words uttered by the coins.