NCERT Solutions for Class 6 English
Vocation NCERT Solutions for Class 6 Honeysuckle Poem 7
Vocation NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers
Vocation Working with the poem
Question 1.
Your partner and you may now be able to answer these questions.
i. Who is the speaker in the poem? Who are the people the speaker meets? What are they doing?
Answer:
The speaker in the poem is a schoolgoing child. The people he meets are the people one typically finds around in one’s neighbourhood having different vocations, such as a hawker, a gardener, and a watchman. Each of them is performing their duties. The hawker is selling crystal bangles; the gardener is digging the garden of a house, and the night watchman is keeping a guard in the locality.
ii. What wishes does the child in the poem make? Why does the child want to be a hawker, a gardener, or a watchman? Pick out the lines in each stanza, which tell us this.
Answer:
The child wishes to be a hawker, a gamer or a watchman. He wants to be a hawker so that he also has the freedom to roam about in any street he wants, and return home when he pleases.
He wants to be a gardener so that he can spend all his day playing in the ground and not get scolded for soiling his clothes.
As a watchman, the child can roam in the streets even at night and play shadow games with his lantern. He does not like to go to bed at night.
The following are the lines which tell us this:
- I wish I were a hawker, spending my day in
the road, crying, “Bangles, crystal bangles!” - I wish I were a gardener digging away at the
garden with nobody to stop me from digging. - I wish I were a watchman walking the street
all night, chasing the shadows with my lantern.
iii. From the way the child envies the hawker, the gardener and the watchman, we can guess that there are many things the child has to do, or must not do.
Answer:
| The child must | The child must not |
| come home at a fixed time. | get his clothes dirty in the dust. |
| go to bed on time. | spends time under the sun. |
| I must make my own bed. | gets wet in rain. |
| I must wake up on time and go to school every day. | walk the streets at night. |
| I must complete my homework daily and help my parents with chores. | I must not leave home without an elder. |
| I must take a bath daily. | I must not talk to strangers |
iv. Like the child in the poem, you perhaps have your own wishes for yourself. Talk to your friend, using “I wish I were… ” (Encourage the students to use their creativity and formulate their own answers.)
Answer:
- I wish I were a dog so that I could sleep all day long and not have to go to school.
- I wish I were an astronaut visiting and studying the space.
- I wish I were an alien with special powers.
- I wish I were a superhero that could save the world from evil people.
Question 2.
Find out the different kinds of work done by the people in your neighbourhood. Make different cards for different kinds of work. You can make the card colourful with pictures of the persons doing the work.
(Encourage the students to use their creativity and complete the activity.)
Answers:
- A scrapdealer: The scrapdealer takes care of the environment by helping us recycle scraps of waste.
- Fruit vendor: The fruit vendor brings fresh fruits and vegetables to our locality right at our doorstep.
- Cleaners and sweepers: The sweepers and cleaners do the most important job in our neighbourhood by keeping it clean and hygienic. We should treat them well.