NCERT Solutions Class 8, English, It So Happened (Supplementary Reader), Chapter- 4, The treasure within.
Comprehension Check
1. What did Hafeez Contractor have nightmares about?
Solution:
A nightmare is a bad dream or haunting fear. Hafeez had nightmares about mathematics examination.
2. What did the Principal say to him, which influenced him deeply?
Solution:
The Principal told Hafeez that he was a good student but he never studied. His mother had worked hard to bring him up. It was the time now to rise to the occasion and study.
3. “... that year I did not step out onto the field.” What was he busy doing that year?
Solution:
He was busy studying that year. He went for prayers, and just ate and studied.
4. (i) What “distraction” did Hafeez Contractor create one day?
Solution:
He played chor-police for an hour and even school boy loves distractions very much.
(ii) Would you have liked to participate in the “distraction” had you been with him?
Solution:
Had I been with Hafeez Contractor, I would have definitely liked to particulate in the distraction.
Comprehension Check
1. Hafeez Contractor wanted to join the police force. Why didn’t he?
Solution:
Hafeez wanted to join the police force, but his mother advised him to do his graduation first. So he joined Jaihind College in Mumbai.
2. In the architect’s office, Hafeez Contractor was advised to drop everything and join architecture. Why?
Solution:
In the architect’s office somebody was making a technical drawing of a window. Hafeez observed some lacunae in the drawing and convinced that person. Then Hafeez was asked to make a drawing for a house which Hafeez did surprisingly well. They were stunned to see Hafeez’s natural talent and advised him to join architecture.
3. (i) What was Mrs Gupta’s advice to Hafeez Contractor?
Solution:
Mrs. Gupta, who was Hafeez Contractor's teacher in the second and third grades, advised him to become an architect when he grew up.
(ii) What made her advise him so?
Solution:
She always said to him that he was quite useless in everything, except for his sketches, which were always very good. Therefore, she advised him to take up architecture.
4. How did he help fellow students who had lost a button?
Solution:
When his fellow students lost a button, he helped them by cutting a button from chalk, by using a blade.
5. Which rules did he break as a school boy?
Solution:
He broke many rules when he was a school boy. He would copy in class during Examination. Playing jobs and pranks on others. He would have gang fights and plan strategies. He was most interested in funny pranks. So he often created distractions. He also became a street Romeo.
6. (i) What is Hafeez Contractor’s definition of mathematics?
Solution:
According to Hafeez Contractor, Maths is a combination of putting designs, construction, psychology and sociology together and making sketch from all that,
(ii) How would you want to define mathematics? Do you like the subject?
Solution:
Mathematics is the best branch of science, but it is a bit difficult to be good in this subject. Howover, I like this subject.
Excercise
Answer the following Questions:
1. Is it likely that someone who is original and intelligent does not do very well at school? Should such a learner be called a failure? If not, why not?
Solution:
It is likely that someone who is original and intelligent does not do very well at school. Such a learner should not be called a failure as everyone has his or her own strengths and weaknesses. Those who are academically brilliant do well in other fields. Hafeez Contractor was not a very good student. However, he had the talent for construction, and he is now one of the leading architects. Each individual has his or her own individual talents, which may or may not be visible in the academic report. That is why students should be encouraged to showcase their talents, and work on them. They should not be called failures.
2. Who, in your view, is an ‘unusual’ learner?
Solution:
An unusual learner can be a genius in any subject. He will be different from the rest.
3. What can schools do to draw out the best in unusual learners? Suggest whatever seems reasonable to you.
Solution:
School should stop treating all the learners as ordinary. They should not follow old mechanical methods of teaching. They should try to discover the hidden talent in each learner and encourage him to do his best developing it.
