NCERT Solutions for Class 5th English Chapter 9 B. Think and discuss — Let us Think

He admires them because each of them seems to have the one thing he does not have — the freedom to choose his own day.

Look at what he notices about each person. He never once mentions money, or comfort, or how easy the work is.

There is a second reason too. A child is curious. All three of these people work outdoors, where things happen — a street full of people, a garden full of earth, a dark lane at night. Compared with sitting at a desk, that looks like an adventure.

Sample answer: The speaker admires the hawker, the gardener and the watchman because their days look free to him. Nobody hurries the hawker or tells him which road to take. Nobody scolds the gardener for getting dust on his clothes. The watchman is out in the street at the very hour when the speaker is sent to bed. The speaker’s own day is decided for him — school at ten, home at four, bed at dark. So he looks at these three people and thinks how good it would be to be his own master. He is admiring their freedom, and he does not yet know how hard each of these jobs really is. The hawker walks all day to earn what he earns, the gardener works in the hot sun and the rain, and the watchman stays awake all night so that others can sleep safely. Every one of these is real work, done well, and the poem does not say any of it is easy — the child simply has not seen that part yet.

This is your own answer, so it will be different from your friend’s. Walk through the journey in your mind, from your gate to the school gate, and write down what you actually see, hear and smell.

Sample answer: On my way to school I walk down our lane and past the milk booth, where a queue has already formed with empty cans. The vegetable seller is setting out tomatoes and coriander on his cart, and he calls out the prices. A little further, the tea shop is full of steam and the smell of ginger tea. I cross the road near the temple, where the traffic policeman stands in his white sleeves and stops the scooters for us. Two street dogs sleep in the same sunny spot every morning.

On my way back at half past three the road looks quite different. The vegetable cart is nearly empty. The bangle seller has come, and girls are crowded around him. The koel is calling from the neem tree, and the shade has moved to the other side of the road. Near our lane, the kulfi cart has arrived, and my friends and I stop there for a minute before we go in.