Jalebis - Worksheets

CBSE Worksheet 01
Jalebis
  1. Whom does the boy compare himself to, while distributing the jalebis to the children?
  2. What were the contents of the boy’s bag, when he was expecting God to have put for rupees in it? [Jalebis]
  3. What did the writer do with the remaining three rupees? Answer in the context of Jalebis.
  4. What did Munna do when he got into the mood for some fun?
  5. Write a short note on the character of the schoolboy in Jalebis.
  6. What did the oldest rupiya say to Munna?
  7. What did Munna do when he reached home?
  8. Describe the various metaphors employed in the story. Write your answer in the context of Jalebis.
CBSE Worksheet 01
Jalebis
Solution
  1. While distributing the jalebis, the boy compares himself to Governor Saheb who used to distribute rice to the poor on Independence Day.
  2. The boy realised that God hadn’t put money in his bag. All that he had in his bag were a few textbooks and notebooks, one pencil, one sharpener and an Id card his mamu had sent him last year.
  3. He dashed to the halwai bought jalebis, stood on chabutara of one of the houses liberally and distributed jalebis among the poor children and beggars.
  4. Munna started giving the Jalebis to the children of the neighbourhood. He spent all the four rupees on buying jalebis and distributing them among children.
  5. The schoolboy in the story Jalebis carries four rupees to school to pay the school fees. He is honest, God fearing and brilliant student. He has won a scholarship also. He has never been punished. He enjoys prestige. He feels shy of standing in the bazaar and eating jalebis. But the coins in his pocket persuade him to go wrong. He repents his foolishness afterwards. He asks for God’s help. He can recite the namaz and some portions from the Quran. His experience, however, teaches him a valuable lesson.
  6. The oldest rupiya said that they were trying to tell him something good. He should eat jalebis with the money in his pocket. He could pay the fees with the scholarship money he was to get.
  7. He sat on the bed and the coins began to speak. He went inside to have lunch. Then he rushed out of the house barefoot and ran towards the bazaar.
  8. The story employs quite a few metaphors. The jalebis, hot and syrupy, stand as a metaphor for various temptations that young children have and which they are unable to resist.  The boy is lured by the prospect of buying jalebis with his fees money and pay the fees money with his scholarship money.  The four coins, are also metaphors in the story as they tempt the boy in believing that he could give in to temptation now and make plans of paying with the money which he did not have yet. The noises produced by the coins, their jingle and clamour, is representative of the mental conflict going on in the boy’s mind. He was unable to control his temptation. Therefore, coins are referred to as the 'talking coins', on whom he transfers the onus of his temptation.