Abandoned

TS 10th Class English Guide Unit 5C Abandoned (Poem)

Comprehension

I. Answer the following Questions:

Question 1. Why are the shrieks of the baby unheard?

Answer: Because the baby is dropped in a dustbin which is far away to the public, it may be also cold night. And the baby is also covered around with a paper / cloth. Thus the shrieks of the baby are unheard

Question 2. "An outcast of destiny" What is meant by this expression?

Answer: The expression mean that the baby is an outcast by the destiny. Outcasting means rejecting

Question 3. What are the physical features of the baby?

Answer: The physical features of the baby are half eaten fingers, the foul smelling body, cyanosed lips, and sea-blue nose

Question 4. Easy ratshere means _______?

• easily available rats
• the rats that move easily
• the rats that are caught easily
• lazy rats

Answer:

• the rats that are caught easily

Question 5. Who are gnawing at the babys ears? Rats or a cat?

Answer: The rats are gnawing at the babys ears

Question 6. Which of the following statements are true?

• The cat was eating the baby
• The rats were eating the baby
• The rats were strong enough to drive away the cat
• The baby was dead by the time the cat came
• The rats left the baby to the cat

Answer:

• The rats were eating the baby
• The baby was dead by the time the cat came
• The rats left the baby to the cat

Question 7. Can you guess who abandoned the baby?

Answer: Yes, I can guess that the illegal parents or the poor parents abandoned the baby

Question 8. Why do people abandon babies?

Answer: There are so many reasons the people abandon the babies. Here, I would like to give some of them. They are

• Some of the poor parents may abandon babies due to poverty
• The illegal parents may abandon the babies due to the fear of society
• Some parents may abandon the handicaped babies
• Some parents may abandon the diseased babies
• Some parents may abandon the female babies, (gender discrimination)

Question 9. What leads to a bloody chaos?

Answer: The coming of cat for the lazy rats leads to a bloody chaos. It leads to the killing of the baby

Question 10. Comment on the line " The only sin of the infant - Being Born." ?

Answer: This goes out to the little babies innocent, tiny, tender souls who have been abandoned by their families or their parents. There are so many babies found abandoned in trash cans and garbage bins on the streets in India for no fault of theirs. Few are saved but most die a painful death crying into the cold night. Doomed to death even before they could learn to live. The poet questions us whether it was their sin to be born into this world as infants

Project Work

Collect information about people who tought against social evil. Prepare a short note on the difficulties and oppositions they had to face to fight against the social evils. Discuss in the group the similarities in the problems they faced and the solutions they found to tackle them?

Answer:

Name of the Social Reformer	Place	Problems/Issues fought against	period
1. Raja Ram Mohan Roy	Hoogly	Sati, Caste rigidity, Polygamy and child marriages	1820 - 1830
2. Acharya Vinoba Bhave	Gagoda	Bhoodan Movement	1895 - 1982
3. Dhondo Keshav Karve	Sherwali	Upliftment of the women and widows, womens education	1858 - 1962
4. Kandukuri Veeresalingam	Rajahmundray	Women education, started social organisation Hilakarini	1880 - 1910
5. Eshwar Chandra Vidya Sagar	Birsingha	Widow remarriage uplift of woman	1820 - 1891
6. Martin Luther	German	religious reformer	1483 - 1546

A short Note

Raja Ram Mohan Roy: Raja Ram Mohan Roy was an Indian religious, social and educational reformer who challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. He is sometimes called the father of modern India. He founded Atmiya Sabha and Brahma Samaj. He fought against Sati, and played a key role in abolition of Sati

He fought for the rights of women. He is known as the Maker of Modern India. He was a great scholar and an independent thinker. He was born on May 22, 1772 in village Radhanagar in the district of Hoogly in Bengal. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was against idol worship and orthodox Hindu rituals. He stood firmly against all sorts of social bigotry, conservatism and superstitions. But his father was an orthodox Hindu Brahmin

This led to differences between Raja Ram Mohan Roy and his father. Following differences, he left the house. He wandered around Himalayas and went to Tibet. After his return, he compaigned for rights of women including the right for widows for remarry and the right for women to hold property. He actively opposed Sati system and the practice of polygamy

Difficulties and Problems faced by Social reformers and Solutions they found

India is privileged to have a number of great souls like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, DayanandSaraswathi, Eshwar Chandra Vidya Sagar, Kandukuri Veerasalingam etc. They managed to bring revolutions by making radical changes in the society. Some of the reformers took up the challenges of breaking the jinx of prevaling caste-system

Some of them fought against child marriages, sati, polygamy and some others fought for women education, their upliftment and widow remarriages. Their activities and thoughts guided the nation to a new beginning. All the social reformers faced many problmes in the process of reforming the society. The faced opposition from their own families as well as from outside

Yet, they didnt give up their efforts. With great determination and dedication, they, continued their efforts in bringing the reforms. Because of their efforts only, present society is leading a peaceful and harmonious way of life. Though many of the social reformers faced difficulties they found a solution to get rid of them and went on with their works

Self Assessment

How well have I understood this unit? Read and tick ( ? ) in the appropriate box?

Answer:

Abandoned (Poem) Summary in English

The poem "Abandoned" is written by Dr. Suraya Nasim. Her poems are simple and easy to read and understand. The prescriptions she writes are from the brain but the poems she writes are definitely from her heart. This poem definitely derived from her heart

In the beginning of the poem we see a little baby crying for help in a dustbin. The little baby is abandoned as an orphan to the garbage bin by unknown parents. Its tiny fingers are eaten by mosquitoes and insects. There are so many bacteria around the body of little baby which gives bad smell. The little baby has been crying for help since all the night, but nobody hears its cry and help it. In the bitter cold-night the little baby is dead

It looks as outcast of destiny. It is clear from the context that the baby has struggled for breathing all the night. Because the baby was covered with tattered(torn) papers around the body. Due to the waste matter which lies in the dust bin along with the baby, its lips, nose and fingers are poisoned. There is a black cat at the edge of holed bin, searching for rats which are eating the babys body. When cat jumps upon, the rats run away. Finally the baby has left alone in dustbin as a dead one. Thus we can understand Being Born is a sin

About the Author

The poetry Dr. Suraya Nasim writes is straight from the heart. It has no fixed pattern. It doesnt follow any particular rule. The poems come as a flow. Her poems are simple and easy to read and hopefully easier to understand. English was one of her favuorite subjects in school along with science. The prescriptions she writes are from the brain but the poems she writes are definitely from her heart. Her poems were nominated for the Booker Award in 2013

Glossary

abandoned (v) = left something or somebody for ever

irradiating (v) = sending rays of light upon ; light up

shriek (n) = a short, loud high cry

hysteria (n) = uncontrolled excitement

eerie (adj) = causing a feeling of mystery and fear

destiny (n) = power believed to control events

crap (n) = solid waste

cyanosed (adj) = a deep greenish blue coloured

gnawing (v) = biting steadily at something

tattered (adj) = torn, old generally poor condition

foul (adj) = very unpleasant

outcast (n) = someone who is not accepted by the people they

live among, or who has been forced out of their home

labored (adj) = difficult

crap (m) = solid waste

freeze (n) = extremely cold

filthy (adj) = very dirty

chaos (n) = a situation in which everything is happening in a

confused way

screech (v) = to give a harsh high pitched cry

ensue (v) = to happen afterwards or as a result, to follow

grasp (n) = a firm hold or grip