Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
They pass me everyday, on their way to school—boys and girls from the surrounding villages and the outskirts of the hill station.
There are no school buses plying for these children :they walk.
For many of them, it’s a very long walk to school. Ranbir, who is ten, has to climb the mountain from his village, four miles distant and two thousand feet below the town level. He comes in all weathers, wearing the same pair of cheap shoes until they have almost fallen apart.
Ranbir is a cheerful soul. He waves to me whenever he sees me at my window. Sometimes he brings me cucumbers from his father’s field. I pay him for the cucumbers; he uses the money for books or for small things needed at home. Many of the children are like Ranbir-poor, but slightly better off than what their parents were at the same age. They cannot attend the expensive residential and private schools that abound here, but must go to the government aided schools with only basic facilities. Not many of their parents managed to go to school. They spent their lives working in the fields or delivering milk in the hill station. The lucky ones got into the army. Perhaps Ranbir will do something different when he grows up. He has yet to see a train but he sees planes flying over the mountains almost every day.
“How far can a plane go?” he asks.
“All over the world,” I tell him. “Thousands of miles in a day. You can go almost anywhere.”
“I’ll go round the world one day,” he vows. “I’ll buy a plane and go everywhere!” And may be he will. He has a determined chin and a defiant look in his eye. Up to a few years ago, very few girls in the hills or in the villages of India went to school. They helped in the home until they were old enough to be married, which wasn’t very old. But there are now just as many girls as there are boys going to school. Bindra is something of an extrovert—confident fourteen year old who chatters away as she hurries down the road with her companions. Her father is a forest guard and knows me quite well: I meet him on my walks through the deodar woods behind Landour. And I had grown used to seeing Bindra almost every day. When she did not put in an appearance for a week. I asked her brother if anything was wrong. “Oh, nothing,” he says, “she is helping my mother cut grass.
Soon the monsoon will end and the grass will dry up. So we cut it now and store it for the cows in winter.”
“And why aren’t you cutting grass too?”
“Oh, I have a cricket match today,” he says, and hurries away to join his team mates. Unlike his sister, he puts pleasure before work!
Cricket, once the game of the elite has become the game of the masses. On any holiday, in any part of this vast country, groups of boys can be seen making their way to the nearest field, or open patch of land, with bat, ball and any other cricketing gear that they can cobble together. Watching some of them play; I am amazed at the quality of talent, at the finesse with which they bat or bowl. Some of the local teams are as good, if not better, than any from the private schools, where there are better facilities. But boys from these poor or lower middle-class families will never get the exposure that is necessary to bring them to the attention of those who select state or national teams. They will never get near enough to the men of influence and power. They must continue to play for the love of the game, or watch their more fortunate heroes’ exploits on television.
(a) Give the meanings of the following words as used in the passage. One word answers or short phrases will he accepted.
1. defiant (line 22)
2. elite (line 37)
3. exposure (line 43)
(b) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words:
1. In what way are the children better off than their parents?
2. What was Ranbir’s ambition?
3. How has the fate of girls changed?
4. In what way was her brother different from Bindra?
5. Why is the narrator amazed?
6. Why does the author call the heroes on television ‘fortunate’?
(c) In not more than 60 words, relate what difficulties the children face in their daily lives. How does the author feel about it?
(d) Give a title to your summary in 3(c). State a reason to justify your choice.
