NCERT Class 5 English Santoor Chapter 09 Vocation PDF Download

Chapter 9: Vocation

Let us Recite

(1)
When the gong sounds ten in the morning and
I walk to school by our lane,
Every day I meet the hawker crying, "Bangles,
crystal bangles!"
There is nothing to hurry him on, there is no
road he must take, no place he must go to, no
time when he must come home.
I wish I were a hawker, spending my day in
the road, crying, "Bangles, crystal bangles!"

(2)
When at four in the afternoon I come
back from the school.
I can see through the gate of that
house the gardener digging the ground.
He does what he likes with his spade,
he soils his clothes with dust, nobody
takes him to task if he gets baked in the
sun or gets wet.
I wish I were a gardener digging away
at the garden with nobody to stop me
from digging.

(3)
Just as it gets dark in the evening and my
mother sends me to bed,
I can see through my open window the
watchman walking up and down.
The lane is dark and lonely, and the
street-lamp stands like a giant with one red eye
in its head.
The watchman swings his lantern and walks
with his shadow at his side, and never once goes
to bed in his life.
I wish I were a watchman walking the streets
all night, chasing the shadows with my lantern.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Teacher's Note

Notice how the speaker repeats "I wish I were..." three times in the poem. Each time, the speaker admires a different worker and the freedom that worker seems to have. The repetition helps you remember what the poem is about, and it shows that the speaker is daydreaming about all these different jobs. Look at the pattern: the speaker describes what each person does, then immediately says he wishes he could do that job instead.

New Words

vocation gong lane giant spade lantern

Let us Think

A. Answer the following questions.

1. Who is the speaker in the poem?
2. Why does the speaker want to be a hawker?
3. What does he like about the gardener?
4. What does the speaker compare the street lamp to?
5. On the basis of the poem that you have read, share the daily schedule of the speaker.

B. Think and discuss.

1. Why does the speaker admire people with different vocations?
2. What are the things that you observe on your way to school and your way back home?

Let us Learn

A. Here are some of the words from Vocation. Read the poem and match each word with its meaning.

B. There is one mistake in each sentence given below. Underline the mistakes and rewrite the correct sentences in the given space. One example has been done for you.

1. I has recently read a new book.
   I have recently read a new book.
2. The speaker goes for school at ten in the morning.

Teacher's Note

In English, the subject and the verb must match. When the subject is "I", the verb form changes. Look at the example: "I has" is wrong because "I" is singular and personal, so you use "have" not "has". Remember: "I/you/we/they have" but "he/she/it has". When you correct sentence 2, check both the verb and the preposition: do you go "for school" or go "to school"?

Key Points

• The poem "Vocation" is told by a young speaker who observes different workers during the day - a hawker, a gardener, and a watchman - and wishes he could do their jobs because they seem free from rules and restrictions.
• The speaker admires each worker for different reasons: the hawker has no schedule to follow, the gardener can work freely without anyone telling him what to do, and the watchman works through the night and never has to sleep like others.
• The poem uses repetition of the line "I wish I were..." to show the speaker's daydreams about different vocations and to emphasize that the speaker values freedom and independence in work.
• Tagore uses imaginative descriptions, like comparing the street-lamp to a giant with one red eye, to help you see the world through the young speaker's eyes and feel the magic and wonder of everyday things.

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