They complained that the disfigured paint of the stall spoilt the beauty of the landscape, the signposts pointed the wrong way and the stalls were not maintained.

Question - 2 : -
What was the plea of the folk who had put up the roadside stand?

Answer - 2 : -

The people of the roadside stand sat in prayer that some city traffic should stop by and buy their wares so that they could make some money to improve their life beyond mere survival.

Question - 3 : -
The government and other social service agencies appear to help the poor rural people, but actually do them no good. Pick out the words and phrases the poet uses to show their double standards.

Answer - 3 : -

The poet uses the word ‘greedy good-doers, beneficent beasts of prey’ and ‘enforcing benefits that are calculated’.

Question - 4 : -
What is the ‘childish longing’ that the poet refers to? Why is it in vain?

Answer - 4 : -

The poet refers to the tireless longing of the stall owners for some car to stop by and give them an opportunity to make some money. But they wait in vain because the cars just pass by without thinking of the hope and longing of the sad faces peeping from the windows. If at all they stop, it is to ask the way or to take turn.

Question - 5 : -
Which lines tell us about the insufferable pain that the poet feels at the thought of the plight of the rural people?

Answer - 5 : -

The lines that express the poet’s insufferable pain are:

I wonder how I should like you to come to me

And offer to put me gently out of my pain.

Question - 6 : -
What is the untold sorrow of the owners of the roadside stand?

Answer - 6 : -

The untold sorrow of the roadside stand owners is that nobody pays attention to the efforts of the country folk to make some money. The city folk just pass by their stalls without helping them to maike some money. Their lives have not progressed at all as they merely earn to survive.

Question - 7 : -
What is the poet’s complaint in the poem?

Answer - 7 : -

The poet does not complain like passers-by that the landscape has been marred. He is complaining about the lack of opportunity and encouragement to these people in the countryside. He is upset about the sorrow of those who had set up the roadside stall in the hope that people would stop by and some money would tickle into their palms.

Question - 8 : -
Why do country people ask for money?

Answer - 8 : -

The country people ask for money to improve their lives. They set up stalls on (he roadside in the hope that they would make some money by selling goods of daily use and make their life better, as they had seen in movies and as had been promised by the party in power.

Question - 9 : -
What was the news that was doing the rounds?

Answer - 9 : -

There was news that the people in power were planning to move all these rural people to the city next to the theatre and the big stores. Their lives would be secured and they would not have to worry about themselves any longer. They were promised that they would soon be pulled out of their poverty.

Question - 10 : -
How would the innocent be soothed out of their wits?

Answer - 10 : -

The selfish good-doers would outwit the simple innocent people into believing that their intentions and efforts were for their improvement, while they would be seeking their own profits from the labour of these folks.

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Chapter 13 A Roadside Stand Solutions

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