Q1. What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps?
Where is he and where has he come
from?
Ans. Saheb is looking for gold in the garbage dumps. He is in the neighbor hood of the author. Saheb
has come from Bangladesh. He came with his mother in 1971. His house was in the green fields of
Dhaka. Storms destroyed away their fields and homes. So they left the country.
Q2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?
Ans. One explanation offered by the author is that it is a tradition to stay barefoot. It is not lack of
money. This is the custom in their family to remain barefooted.
Q3. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain.
Ans. No, Saheb is not happy working at the tea-stall. He is no longer his own master. His face has
lost the carefree look. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag which he earlier carried
on his shoulders. The bag was his. The canister belongs to the man who owns the tea-shop.
Q1. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
Ans. The city of Firozabad is famous for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in
making bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry. Families have spent generations
working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for the women in the land.
Q2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry?
Ans. 1. Children lose their eyesight before they become adults.
2. The dust from the polishing the glass of the bangles damages their eyes.
3. Many workers become blind
4. The furnaces have high temperature and very dangerous.
5. There is no ventilation in the dark huts
Q3. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
Ans. Mukesh’s grandmother thinks that the her son and grandsons are born in the caste of bangle
makers.. Mukesh’s father has taught them the art of making bangles. But Mukesh wants to be a
motor mechanic. He will go to a garage and learn, though the garage is far away from his home.
He want to drive cars.
Q2. Would you agree that promises made to the poor children are rarely kept? Why do you
think this happens in the incidents narrated in the text?
Ans. The promises made to the poor are rarely kept. The author asks Saheb half-joking, whether he
will come to her school if she starts one. Saheb agrees to do so. A few days later he asks if the
school is ready. The writer feels embarrassed at having made a promise that was not meant.
Promises like hers abound in every comer of their bleak world.
Q3. What forces conspire to keep the workers in bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?
Ans. Certain forces conspire to keep the workers in bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty. These
include the moneylenders, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and
the politicians. Together they impose a heavy burden on the child.
Q1. Who was Saheb? What was he doing and why?
Ans. Saheb was a young boy of school-going age. He was looking for gold in the garbage dumps of
the big city. He had left his home in Dhaka, Bangladesh and came to the big city in search of living.
He has nothing else to do but pick rags.
Q3. What is the meaning of Saheb’s full name? Does he know it? How does he conduct
himself?
Ans. His full name is “Saheb-e-Alam”. It means the lord of the universe. He does not know it. If he
knew it, he would hardly believe it. He roams the streets barefoot with other rag-pickers. This army of
arefoot boys appears in the morning and disappears at noon.
Q5. Explain: “For children, garbage has a meaning different from what it means to their
parents. ”
Ans. Small children scrounge heaps of garbage. They expect to get some coin, note or valuable thing
in it. Sometimes they find a rupee or even a ten rupee note. This gives the hope of finding more. They
search it excitedly. For children, garbage is wrapped in wonder.
For the elders it is a means of survival. Thus, garbage has two different meanings.
Q7. What job did Saheb take up? Was he happy ? [All India 2014]
Ans. Saheb took up the job at a tea-stall. But he was not happy with it. He was no longer his own
master. His face had lost the carefree look. Although he earned ? 800, even then he was not
satisfied.
Q9. How does Saheb’s life change when he starts working at the tea-stall?
Ans. Saheb now has a regular income. He is paid 800 rupees and all his meals. Thus, food is no
problem. But his face has lost the carefree look. The steel canister in his hand now seems a burden.
He is no longer his own master. He may have to work for longer hours. The helplessness of doing
things at his own will makes him sad.
Q10. Who is Mukesh? What is his dream? Why does it look like “a mirage amidst the dust?”
Ans. Mukesh is the son of a poor bangle-maker of Firozabad, where every other family is engaged in
making bangles. His poor father has failed to renovate his house or send his two sons to school.
Mukesh insists on being his own master. His dream is to be a motor mechanic. He wants to drive a
car. Given the conditions of existence, his dream looks like a mirage amidst the dust.
[Link] do you learn about Firozabad from this chapter ?
Ans. Firozabad is famous for its glass bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry.
Families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for all the
women in the land. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles.
