Have you ever stopped at a roadside stand? What have you observed there?
Yes, I did stop at a roadside stand sometimes. There I observed some people selling fresh vegetables and fruits by keeping them in bamboo weaved baskets. That store doesn’t seem like a store, it’s just a big cloth, whose four corners are tied to four supports, which lie over their head and protect them from sun. Those people say a price and wouldn’t mind in travelling down an extra mile if we buy a dozen instead of two.
You could stop at a dhaba or a roadside eatery on the outskirts of your town or city to see
How many travelers stop there to eat?
There were only fewer travelers who stopped to eat during day time. At night there were tens of people stopped to eat, whose number is good enough to fill all the seats in that dhaba.
The city folk who drove through the countryside hardly paid any heed to the roadside stand or to the people who ran it. If at all they did, it was to complain. Which lines bring this out? What was their complaint about?
“the polished traffic passed with a mind ahead
Or if ever aside a moment, then out of sorts”
These lines bring out the sentences mentioned in the question. The complaint was about the wrongly indicated north-south signs.
What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?
The plea of the folk was to help him earn his lively hood by buying those wild berries, which he is selling.
The government and other social service agencies appear to help the poor rural people but actually, do them no good. Pick out the words and phrases that the poet uses to show their double standards ?
1) Greedy good doers
2) beneficent beasts of prey
These are the words used by the poet to show their double standards.
What is the ‘childish longing’ that the poet refers? Why is it in ‘vain’?
Lurking at the window for the sound of a stopping car by the stand owner was a childish longing according to the poet.
It is in vain because , most of the cars that pass by never stopped, though if someone stopped, they enquired about the nearby gas stations or about the price of the berries. No one was interested to buy them.
Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the plight of the rural people?
“I wonder how I should like you to come to me
And offer to put me gently out of my pain.”
These are the lines that tell us about the poet’s feelings.
Discuss in small groups
The economic well-being of a country depends on a balanced development of villages and the cities.
A country is said to be economically strong, only when there are smart villages, not just smart cities in it. Nearly 97% of the food that we consume today is from villages. The development of a country is not possible by leaving the villages and just by concentrating on cities. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “villages are the twigs of a country.” fi there is no growth in the twigs, then there is no growth in the country and it’s economy as well.
Agriculture was once the livelihood of more than 70% people in India. But that number has been decreasing gradually till today because of industrialization and some other factors.
Villages are not just the sources of food, they are also the store houses of our culture and tradition. The true climate of a country can be seen only in villages. There is much to learn and a lot to develop in villages.
A country’s development is not possible by turning the rich into richer and the poor into poorer. it is possible by turning the poor into the rich, which can be done only when the development of cities is hand in hand with the development of villages.
How many travelers stop for other reason?
In a day about 20-30 travelers stop for other reasons like asking the route, any minor repair for their vehicles, to click photos etc.
How are the shopkeepers treated?
The way the travelers treated the shopkeeper was not bad. They had a shopkeeper-customer conversation.
The kind of business the shopkeepers do.
The shopkeeper has a hotel business which has both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food.
The kind of life they lead.
The shopkeeper was always in a hurry and tension as he had to manage many works. So, I can say that he has a busy life.
Notice the rhyme scheme. Is it consistent or is there an occasional variance? Does it indicate thought predominating over sound pattern?
No, the rhyme scheme was not consistent, there was an occasional variance.
Ex: The ending words of the second, third and fourth lines, stand, hand and expand, are not in rhyme with the first line.
Yes, it indicates thought predominating our sound pattern.
Notice the stanzas divisions. Do you find a shift to a new idea in successive stanzas ?
Yes, there is a shift to a new idea in successive stanzas.
Ex: In the first stanza, the situation of the stand owner was explained.
The second stanza talks about, the behaviour of the travelers towards this stand owner.