NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English It So Happened Chapter 8 Jalebis
NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English It So Happened Chapter 8 Jalebis are provided below. These solutions contain answers to all the textbook questions. All the questions are solved by experts with a detailed explanation that help students to complete their assignments and homework. NCERT Solutions for Class 8 English It So Happened Chapter 8 Jalebis are prepared as per the latest CBSE syllabus and curriculum. Students of Class 8th can study the answers provided here to score well in their school exams.
Jalebis Class 8 NCERT Questions and Answers
Comprehension Check (Page No 65)
Question 1: Why didn’t he pay the school fees on the day he brought money to school?
Answer: He did not pay the school fees on the day he brought money to school because Master Ghulam Mohammed (the teacher who collected the fees) was on leave, and it would be collected the next day.
Question 2: (i) What were the coins ‘saying’ to him?
(ii) Do you think they were misguiding him?
Answer: (i) The coins in the boy’s pocket urged him to buy hot and fresh jalebis.
(ii) Yes, they were misguiding him. This is because the money was meant for his school fees and fund.
Question 3: Why didn’t he take the coin’s advice? Give two or three reasons.
Answer: Initially, the boy didn’t take the coins’ advice because of the following reasons:
- He was an honest boy.
- He could not spend the money meant for school fees on buying jalebis.
- He was fully aware of the consequences of not paying the fees on time i.e. the teacher would punish him by beating him with a cane.
Question 4: (i) What did the oldest coin tell him?
(ii) Did he follow his advice? If not, why not?
Answer: (i) The oldest coin told him that they were telling him something for his own good and he was trying to strangle them. Didn’t he feel like eating those hot, hot jalebis? Besides even if he spent the coins that day he would get the scholarship money the next day. He suggested buying the sweets with the fees money and paying his fees with the scholarship money.
(ii) He didn’t follow his advice. He was a promising student. He was from a good family of repute. He didn’t want to get defame for it
Question 5: He reached home with the coins in his pocket. What happened then?
Answer: When he reached home, the coins began to speak again. When he went inside to have lunch, they began to shriek. He was so thoroughly fed up that he rushed out of the house barefoot and ran towards the market. Although he was terrified, he quickly asked for a whole rupee worth of jalebis. The halwai opened up a whole newspaper and heaped a pile of jalebis on it.
Comprehension Check (Page No 68)
Question 1: (i) Why didn’t he eat all the jalebis he had bought?
(ii) What did he do with the remaining Jalebis?
Answer: (i) He had bought jalebis for one rupee. But he couldn’t eat all of them because of their quantity.
(ii) He distributed the remaining jalebis among the boys from the neighbourhood.
Question 2: “The fear was killing me.” What was the fear?
Answer: The fear was of getting caught and his parents finding out that he had eaten so many jalebis. He burped with every breath. With every burp, there was the danger of bringing out a jalebi or two. This fear was killing him.
Question 3: “Children’s stomachs are like digestion machines.” What do you understand by that? Do you agree?
Answer: This means that children have an active digestive system as they perform physical activity like walking and playing games every day. The boy had popped in so many jalebis and felt his digestive system would digest it by morning.
Question 4: How did he plan to pay the fees the next day?
Answer: He planned to pay the fees the next day with the previous months scholarship that he was to receive next day.
Question 5: When it is time to pay the fees, what does he do? How is he disobeying the elders by doing so?
Answer: When the time draws near to pay the fees, he tucked the bag under his arm and slips out of the school. He had disobeyed his elders by crossing the railway track.
Comprehension Check (Page No 72)
Question 1: What was the consequence of buying jalebis with the fees money?
Answer: The consequence of buying and eating jalebi with the fees money was that for the first time in his life he was absent from school and spending the day crouching in the shade of a tree in a deserted corner of a railway station.
Question 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 tries to please God with his requests and the recitation of the entire namaz. He admits that he made a mistake. He wouldn’t have spent his money on jalebis if he had known about the delay in scholarship. Thus, he argues his case like a lawyer.
Question 3: He offers to play a game with Allah Miyan. What is the game?
Answer: The game was that he would go up to the signal, touch it and return. In the meantime, God should secretly put four rupees under a big rock. Once he lifts it, he should be able to find the four rupees underneath the rock.
Question 4: Did he get four rupees by playing the game? What did he get to see under the rock?
Answer: No, he did not get any money under the rock by playing the game. Instead, when he lifted the rock a big hairy worm got up and curling, and twisting wriggled towards him.
Question 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, he would have never learnt a lesson from his mistake. He felt he would have continued doing wrong and bad deeds and that God would always save him upon persuasion.
EXERCISE
Work in small groups.
Question 1: Select and read sentences that show
- that the boy is tempted to eat jalebis.
- that he is feeling guilty
- that he is justifying a wrong deed
Answers:
(i)
- Jalebis are meant to be eaten, and those with money in their pocket can eat them.
- But then, these jalebis are no common sort of Jalebis They’re crisp, fresh and full of syrup.
- My mouth watered. I rushed out of the house bare foot and ran towards the bazaar.
(ii)
- My head started to spin.
- When the recess bell rang I tucked my bag under my arm and left the school.
- Now for the crime of eating a few Jalebis, for the first time in my life I was absent from school.
- Sitting under a tree, at first I felt like crying.
(iii)
- I didn’t eat them all by myself, and I fed them to a whole lot of children.
- Allah Miyan! I am a good boy. I have memorised the entire namaz and the last – ten surats of the Quran by heart.
Question 2: Discuss the following points.
(a) Is the boy intelligent? If so, what is the evidence of it?
(b) Does his outlook on the jalebis episode change after class VIII? Does he see that episode in a new light?
(c) Why are coins made to ‘talk’ in this story? What purpose does it serve?
Answer:
(a) 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.
(b) Yes, his outlook changed after class VIII. He later realised that nothing comes without a price. If God were to grant all one’s wishes for the asking, man would not learn any skill. He would be no better than birds.
(c) 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 jalebis and devour them, is brought out in the words uttered by the coins.