“The Sri Krishna Eating House’ is a part of the novel ‘The Village by the SE™ written by Anita Desai. It is based on the poverty, hardships and sorrow faced by a small rural, community in India. The story revolves around the hardships faced by a 13 year old boy Hari, who stays in a village named Ihul; with his three sisters and a bed ridden mother to take care of. Life for Hari is hard with an alcoholic father. In his endeavour for finding a way to earn money for his family he leaves for Mumbai (old name Bombay) and comes across the Sri Krichna Fating House Read the excerpt ta find what happens next ‘The Sri Krishna Eating House was the meanest and shabbiest restaurant Hari had ever seen; even in Thul there were cafes that were pleasanter Rut the Sri Krishna Eating House did not have even so much as a coloured picture glued to the wall. Or perhaps there had been one and it had disappeared under the grime and soot with which the walls were coated. The ceiling was thick cobwebs that trapped the soot and made a kind of furry blanket over one’s head. The floor and the wooden tables were all black too, since they all got an even share of soot from the open stoves cooked all day in a huge aluminum pan and the chapattis were rolled by hand and baked . It was certainly the 107108 cheapest restaurant anyone can find in Bombay Even a beggar could afford to buy him a meal here, and the usual customers were beggars and coolies who had stopped in between carrying their load. ‘The owner worked hard himself all day and had two boys to help him knead the dough in huge pans, roll out the chapattis, and bake them over open fires which they kept lit day and night. When Hari said next morning after being handed a tumbler of tea and a rolled up chapatti without his asking for anything, “I have no money to pay for all this food you are giving me. Will you let me work in your kitchen instead?” the man considered only a moment, frowning as he thought. Then he said, “Yes, I can do with another boy in the kitchen. Start by washing these pots. Then you can knead the dough and help roll out the chapattis. If you like, you can stay here and work for your meals and earn one rupee a day, like the other boys.” ‘So Hari went to work in the small kitchen at the back of the eating house. He saw there was nothing to scour the pots with, except some blackened coconut husk and the ash from the fires, and he did the best with them. Later he helped the two boys knead great hills of dough in their pans and this was hard work and made them grunt and sweat, They did not speak to each other as they worked. When the boys finally said something to each other, Hari realized it ‘was in Tamil, a language he did not know. They were in any case neither friendly nor inquisitive about him or else they were simply too tired and too sad to speak. They built up the fires and then while one rolled out the chapattis the other baked them over the fire with a pair of long tongs, and Hari was given the task of carrying them out to the customers sitting at the long tables in front of the room. There was so much ICERT Text Book fr fee dstributon:2019.2020"work and such heat in that small place that, no one ever seemed to have the strength or the time to talk. Hari, too, fell silent. ‘Comprehension check - 1 1, In which restaurant did Hari start working? 2. How was the Sri Krishna Dating House different from restaurant in Thul? 3. What was Hari’s daily wages at the restaurant? He would have had to remain silent if the man in the shop next door had not proved friendlier. It was a watch repair shop with its name printed on a signboard over the door: Ding Dong Watch Works, and when Hari came out to empty a pail of garbage into one of the big concrete disposal units built on the roadside, the man who stood at the counter, wearing, a small black cap and with an eve-piece fixed to his eve. working at a minute watch that he held in the cup of his hand, looked at him and smiled, Hari smiled back. i The old man looked so much like Sayyid Ali, the man who had spoken so well at the meeting by the Black Horse, that Hari instantly felt here was another fine and impressive man whom he could trust and who would understand and try to help him, “So, a new boy at the Sri Krishna Eating House,” called the old gentleman, then went back to his examination of the tiny watch, but continued to talk to Hari who stood on the pavement, staring open mouthed at all the clocks and watches that glittered in the show cases. “New to the city?” he asked in the high-pitched, rather cracked and reedy voice. Hari nodded yes. 109“Where do you come from? Jagu’s village?” “Oh no, [don’t know Jagu at all. I come from Thul,” Hari said eagerly, finding, the words rushing out like the small waves of the sea, brightly and happily. “It was the watchman of a big building on a hill who brought me here to eat and I have stayed to work.” “Other people have come to Jagu for help.” The old man nodded, poking about the watch mechanism with a long fine needle. “He is a silent man, ever speaks lo anyone but he bas been guud to many. Like those two boys: who worked for him : their parents were killed in a railway accident; they were all living in a railway platform, as many do who come to the city to find work, and one day a train ran over the parents as they were crossing the line to fetch water from a pump. There’s the station where it happened,” he waved his fine, yellow hand with the long needle in it down the street and then continued, “That’s when Jagu found the boys as he was coming to work in the moming, and he brought them here straightaway and gave them food and shelter and work , too.” Hari was shocked by the story but he did not like to be thought of as another orphan in Jagu’s care. He did have parents after all- even if one was a drunkard and other an invalid-and a home, a proper home not just a place on a railway platform. Thinking of them, he suddenly said, “Sir, can you tell me where the post office is? I wish to buy a postcard.” 0 “Ah-ha,” laughed the old watchmaker, winking at him from behind the eye- piece. “Suddenly remembered you had someone to write to, did you? Yes, you must write. Go straight up the road, next to the electric substation, there is a post office. Have you money for a postcard or can I lend you some?” Hari gratefully took the coin from him , promising to return it as soon as Jagu paid him his salary, and then hurried off to the post office. Having bought the card, he had to have a pen to write with and for this he returned to the watchmaker who seemed more likely to have one than the owner of the eating house. This was in the middle of the sweltering aftemoon when there was no one in the shop, and even the two orphans had fallen asleep under the table, from heat and exhaustion. Hari sat on the steps of the Ding Dong Watch Works and carefully had written before the two boys woke up with a ballpoint pen that the old watchmaker lent him: ICERT Text Book fr fee dstributon:2019.2020"‘Then he wrote his name in large letters to fill up the space, but not his address, and went off to post it, feeling both happy to have done what he knew he should do and frightened because this meant he would be staying in Bombay, not going home. ‘Omprohension Che 1. Why did Hari like to talk to the old man in the watch shop? 2. What was the name of the watch shop? 3. How did the two orphans start working at Jagu’s shop? Ce eeerereaeeere ne] About the author ‘Anita Desai was born in1937, in Mussourie, and educated in Delhi . She has written a number of short stories and several novels such as Bye—bye Black Rird and Where Shall We Go This Summer. She was awarded the Guardian Award for Children’s Fiction for her novel, The Village by the Sea in 1982. aerated = toadd a gas to liquid specially a drink anxious - troubled; uneasy disposal units = —_a container in which waste is disposed of grime - dirt which has got into some surface inquisitive - questioning; eager to find out meanest = poor in quality and appearance ulA_Explore the text Select the most appropriate answer : 1. “ these people seemed to have no fixed working hours”means a. The people worked for unlimited period. b. The people had fixed working hours. c. The people had to work for short period. 2. “have no money to pay for all this food you are giving me .Will you let me work in your kitchen instead 2” means- a. Hari was very proud. b. Hari did not like the food. c. Hari did not want to take anything without paying, 3. He did not write his address on the letter because a. He did not want to go home. b. He knew that he would stay, work and earn, M2 c. He did not want to be caught. 4, Why was Hari happy and frightened both? a. Happy for earning, frightened for not going home. b. Happy for writing letter, frightened for going home. c. Happy for writing letter frightened for not having pen. Answer the following questions : 1, Describe the condition of Sri Krishna Eating House? 2. What kind of people came to eat at the Sri Krishna Eating House? Why did they come to that particular restaurant? What kind of work did Hari do at the restaurant? Why didn’t the owo boys in the kitehen sspeak to Hari? . Why did Hari like talking to the old man in the watch shop? ‘What was Hari’s mixed feelings when he posted the postcard? 7. Traslate the content of the postcard written by Hari. anew “CERT Text Book fr fee dstributon:2019.2020"Xe Fill in the blanks to make the word meaningful in the context of the story : a) rest_urant b) ki_ehen ©) shab_iest d) trap_ed e) chap at_is ) si_nboard g) clo_ks Punctuate the following taking the help of the text capital letters, comma (,), full stop (.) ,semi-column (;) ete, the sri krishna eating house was the meanest and shabbiest restaurant hari had ever seen even in thul there was cates that where pleasanter but the sri krishna eating house did not have even so much as a coloured picture glued to the wall 113 ‘Write the contractions of these words, and use them in sentences of your own: Example: J will I'll go to the doctor today. a) She will ‘i b) I cannot - ©) He will not d) They should not ©) We do not, f) Hari doesnot = 2) Itis not - h) Youdidnot i) Lam - j) Shehadnot =~‘Mark the sentence given in the text: Hari had written before the two boys woke. In this sentence, Hari had completed his writting first. After sometime th boys woke. We use simple past to express an action that happened in the past. We use past perfect when one past action was completed before another past action. Hari liad wrillen before the two boys. woke up. (first action) (second action) Fill in the blanks with the simple past tense of the verbs given in the brackets Long ago there .........(be) a forest full of tree laden with ripe mangoes.But the birds who... (live) there were unhappy. They .. (vant) to . (see) lots of grains scattered cat grains. One morning, the birds .. sit) down to eat the grains. Suddenly, a bird (throw) n4 on the ground. They catcher... (rush) out from the nearby bushes and . a huge net on the feeding birds. Complete the following using the past perfect tense of the verbs given in the brackets: 1 (promise) my younger brother that I would take him to the ‘National Park if he behaved nicely throughout the day. When I reached back in the evening, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my brother «0. (complete) his task perfectly. He ........»- (put) his books in the bag, Father told me that he... (help) in his work too. I was impressed. Since he _.{keep) his word, I decided to keep my promise too. Now complete the following story using either past tense or past perfect tense of the verb given in the brackets. ICERT Text Book fr fee dstribuon:2019.2020"Hari was a very clever boy who always .....(work) hard and .. (obey) his elders. One day, when his father .. ..(g0) to the field, Hari (sit) down to play kancha, Suddenly, he (smell) (look) out of the window, he (see) that there was a fire in his friend’s house. His friend’s family had .. (go) to a marriage ceremony. Hari (think) fast. He .. (remember) that his father tell) him about the usefull services such as the police station , fire brigade, hospital etc. He .......«. (remember) the phone number of the fire brigade his elder brother .- (teach) him how to use a telephone. Hari quickly (call) the fire station and (request) for help.The fire engine arrive) quickly and put off the fire, Everybody in the village .......(praise) Hari, Get together in pairs and enact a conversation between a customer and waiter. You may use the words given below: roast, baked, grill, fried, dessert, starter, main course, serviette, menu, beverage, service, order, bill, tip and napkin Serre “Childline India Foundation’ isa non-government organisation (NGO) in India that operates a telephone helpline called Childline, for children in trouble. It was India’s first 24-hour, toll free, phone outreach service for children . It helps the homeless children, It also helps the children who are poor and who cannot go to school. It gives those children education. They collect money from people and use the money to help these children. Child line number is ~ 1098. Today ‘CHILDLINE” operates in 372 cities/ districts in 34 States/UTs and receives 6 million calls per year across India, Find out how, even you can help/rescue child labourers and other children in need through this helpline. us