The Barber’s Trade Union Summary and Explanation
PSEB Class 12 English Chapter 5 – The Barber’s Trade Union Summary, Explanation along with Difficult Word Meanings from A Rainbow of English Book
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PSEB Class 12 English Chapter 5 – The Barber’s Trade Union
Mulk Raj Anand
The lesson “The Barber’s Trade Union ” by Mulk Raj Anand is a humorous but meaningful story about a young barber named Chandu. Through his experiences, the author showcases how people from lower castes in earlier times were treated unfairly in society. The story also shows how Chandu stands up for his dignity and brings social change by forming a union. The lesson teaches about equality, self-respect, and, dignity and value of every person’s work.
- The Barber’s Trade Union Summary
- The Barber’s Trade Union Summary in Hindi
- The Barber’s Trade Union Theme
- The Barber’s Trade Union Explanation
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The Barber’s Trade Union Summary
The lesson “The Barber’s Trade Union” by Mulk Raj Anand talks about a boy named Chandu, who grows up in a family of barbers. The narrator and Chandu are childhood friends, and the narrator looks up to Chandu because he is brave, smart, and always full of new ideas. After Chandu’s father dies, he takes up the barber’s work in the village. But the high-caste people treat him badly because they think his work is low and impure. Even though Chandu works hard, they insult him and never respect him.
One day, Chandu visits the town and sees a modern dentist shop. He dreams of becoming respectable like the town barber and even buys new clothes to look smart. Instead of appreciating him, the villagers laugh at him and say he is not allowed to dress like upper-caste people. Feeling hurt, Chandu decides he will no longer go to their houses to shave them. Chandu’s strike brings chaos in the village. The elders soon look dirty and funny, and even their own families laugh at them. They try to bring other barbers from nearby villages, but Chandu cleverly convinces all those barbers to support him. No one is ready to shave the village elders. Meanwhile, Chandu enjoys going to town, earning more money, and learning new things like riding a bicycle. Slowly the villagers realise how much they depend on Chandu. Chandu then forms a proper trade union with barbers from nearby villages called “Rajkot District Barber Brothers’ Hairdressing and Shaving Saloon.” They put up a new rule stating that customers must come to the barbers’ shop instead of ordering barbers to visit their homes. This gives respect and dignity to their profession.
Summary of the Lesson The Barber’s Trade Union in Hindi
मुल्क राज आनंद का पाठ “द बार्बर्स ट्रेड यूनियन” चंदू नाम के एक लड़के के बारे में है, जो एक नाई परिवार में पला-बढ़ा है। कथावाचक और चंदू बचपन के दोस्त हैं, और कथावाचक चंदू को इसलिए आदर्श मानता है क्योंकि वह बहादुर, होशियार और हमेशा नए विचारों से भरा रहता है। चंदू के पिता की मृत्यु के बाद, वह गाँव में नाई का काम करने लगता है। लेकिन ऊँची जाति के लोग उसके साथ बुरा व्यवहार करते हैं क्योंकि उन्हें उसका काम नीच और अपवित्र लगता है। हालाँकि चंदू कड़ी मेहनत करता है, फिर भी वे उसका अपमान करते हैं और उसका कभी सम्मान नहीं करते।
एक दिन चंदू शहर जाता है और एक आधुनिक दंतचिकित्सक की दुकान देखता है। वह कस्बे के नाई की तरह इज्जतदार बनने का सपना देखता है और स्मार्ट दिखने के लिए नए कपड़े भी खरीदता है। उसकी सराहना करने के बजाय, गाँव वाले उस पर हँसते हैं और कहते हैं कि उसे ऊँची जाति के लोगों की तरह कपड़े पहनने की इजाज़त नहीं है। आहत होकर, चंदू फैसला करता है कि वह अब उनके घर जाकर उनकी हजामत नहीं बनाएगा। चंदू की हड़ताल से गाँव में अफरा-तफरी मच जाती है। बुज़ुर्ग जल्द ही गंदे और मज़ाकिया दिखने लगते हैं, और यहाँ तक कि उनके अपने परिवार वाले भी उन पर हँसते हैं। वे आस-पास के गाँवों से दूसरे नाइयों को लाने की कोशिश करते हैं, लेकिन चंदू बड़ी चतुराई से उन सभी नाइयों को अपना साथ देने के लिए मना लेता है। गाँव के बुज़ुर्गों की हजामत बनाने को कोई तैयार नहीं होता। इस बीच, चंदू को शहर जाकर ज़्यादा पैसे कमाने और साइकिल चलाने जैसी नई चीज़ें सीखने में मज़ा आता है। धीरे-धीरे गाँव वालों को एहसास होता है कि वे चंदू पर कितना निर्भर हैं। फिर चंदू आस-पास के गाँवों के नाइयों के साथ मिलकर “राजकोट ज़िला बार्बर ब्रदर्स हेयरड्रेसिंग एंड शेविंग सैलून” नाम से एक बाक़ायदा ट्रेड यूनियन बनाता है। उन्होंने एक नया नियम बनाया कि ग्राहकों को नाई को अपने घर बुलाने के बजाय नाई की दुकान पर आना होगा। इससे उनके पेशे को सम्मान और गरिमा मिलती है।
Theme of the Lesson The Barber’s Trade Union
The lesson “The Barber’s Trade Union ” by Mulk Raj Anand revolves around the following themes:-
Caste Discrimination
The lesson highlights the unfair and humiliating treatment of Chandu because of his caste. He is constantly looked down upon and insulted simply because he belongs to a lower caste. The villagers’ rude behaviour towards him reveals how deeply caste prejudice controls people’s attitudes and actions, and the author uses this to criticise the unfairness of the social system.
Dignity of Labour
The lesson showcases the theme of dignity of labour by emphasizing on how all forms of work deserve respect. Chandu wishes to be treated with honour for the services he provides, yet the villagers fail to recognise his hard work and skill. The story teaches that no job is inferior and that dignity should be given based on effort and honesty, not on caste or social status.
Resistance and Social Change
Chandu’s bold actions show resistance and social change. By going on strike, he challenges the unjust behaviour of the villagers and forces them to realise how much they depend on him. When the barbers unite and form a trade union, it symbolises the power of collective strength to fight oppression and bring meaningful change to society.
The Barber’s Trade Union Explanation
Passage: Among the makers of modern India, Chandu, the barber boy of our village, has a place which will be denied him unless I press for the recognition of his contribution to history. Chandu’s peculiar claim to recognition rested, to tell the truth, on an exploit of which he did not know the full significance. But then, unlike most great men of India today, he had no very exaggerated notion of his own importance, though he shared with them a certain native egotism which was sometimes disconcerting and sometimes rather charming.
Word Meanings:
peculiar (adj.): unusual or strange
exploit (v): a brave, exciting or interesting act
exaggerated (v): to make something seem larger, better, worse, etc. than it really is
notion (n): an idea, a belief or an understanding of something
egotism (n): thinking only about yourself and considering yourself better and more important than other people
disconcerting (adj.): making someone feel uncertain and uncomfortable or worried
Explanation: The narrator begins the lesson by saying that Chandu, the barber boy, deserves to be remembered as one of the people who helped change India. However, people may not understand his importance unless the narrator explains it. Chandu did something brave and important, even though he himself did not realise how big or meaningful his actions were. Unlike many famous leaders today who think too much of themselves, Chandu did not overestimate his importance. Still, he had a little bit of pride, which sometimes surprised people but also made him look charming.
Passage: I knew Chandu ever since the days when he wore a piece of rag in the middle of his naked distended-bellied body, and when we wallowed together in the mire of the village lanes, playing at soldiering, shopkeeping, or clerking and other little games which we invented for the delectation of our two selves and of our mothers, who alone of all the elders condescended to notice us. Chandu was my senior by about six months, and he always took the lead in all matters. And I willingly followed, because truly he was a genius at catching wasps, and at pressing the poison out of their tails, at tying their tiny legs to cotton thread and flying them, while I always got stung on the cheeks if I dared to go anywhere near the platform of the village well where these insects settled on the puddles to drink water.
Word Meanings:
rag (n): clothes that are very old and torn
distended-bellied body (n): body with swollen stomach
wallowed (v): to roll oneself about
mire (n): deep mud
delectation (n): enjoyment or entertainment
condescended (v): came down from one’s superior position
wasps (n): a small black and yellow flying insect that can sting
Explanation: The narrator says he has known Chandu since they were very small children. At that time, Chandu was so poor that he only wore a small cloth around his stomach. Both boys played together in the muddy village streets, pretending to be soldiers and shopkeepers and creating many fun games just to entertain themselves and their mothers. Their mothers were the only adults who paid attention to them. Chandu was about six months older than the narrator, so he always became the leader in their games. The narrator happily followed him because Chandu was very talented and brave. Chandu could catch wasps, remove their stings, tie their legs to a thread, and make them fly like little toys. The narrator admired him because whenever he tried to go near the insects, they would sting him on the face. But Chandu never got scared and handled everything with skill.
Passage: When we grew up he still seemed to me the embodiment of perfection, because he could make and fly paper kites of such intricate design and of such balance as I could never achieve. To be sure, he was not so good at doing sums at school as I was, perhaps because his father apprenticed him early to the hereditary profession of the barber’s caste and sent him out hair-cutting in the village, and he had no time for the home tasks which our school master gave us. But he was better than I at reciting poetry, any day, for not only did he remember by rote the verses in the text-book, but he could repeat the endless pages of prose in that book so that they seemed like poetry.
Word Meanings:
embodiment (n): someone or something that represents a quality or an idea exactly
intricate (adj.): having many small parts or details put together in a complicated way
apprenticed (v): worked for some time to learn some particular job
hereditary (adj.): passed on from parent to child
reciting (v): to say aloud a piece of writing, especially a poem or a list, from memory
rote (n): learning by repeating without understanding
Explanation of the passage: When the narrator and Chandu grew older, the narrator still thought Chandu was perfect in every way. Chandu could make and fly beautiful paper kites with very difficult designs, something the narrator could never do as well. The narrator admits that Chandu was not very good at mathematics in school. This was because Chandu’s father made him start working early as a barber, their family’s traditional job. So Chandu had to spend time cutting hair in the village and had no time to finish the homework their teacher gave. But even though he was weak in maths, Chandu was excellent at speaking poetry. He could not only learn all the poems from the textbook but could also repeat long paragraphs of lessons so beautifully that they sounded like poetry. This made the narrator admire him even more.
Passage: My mother resented the fact that Chandu won a scholarship at school while I had to pay fees to be taught. And she constantly dissuaded me from playing with him, saying that Chandu was a low-caste barber’s son and that I ought to keep up the status of my caste and class. But whatever innate ideas I had inherited from my forefathers I certainly hadn’t inherited any sense of superiority. Indeed, I was always rather ashamed of the red caste mark which my mother put on my forehead every morning, and of the formalised pattern of the uchkin, the tight cotton trousers, the gold-worked shoes and the silk turban in which I dressed: and I longed for the right to wear all the spectacular conglomeration” of clothes which Chandu wore – a pair of Khakhi shorts which the retired Subedar had given him, a frayed black velvet waistcoat, decorated all over with shell buttons, and a round felt cap which had once belonged to Lalla Hukam Chand, the lawyer of our village.
Word Meanings:
resented (v): to feel angry about something because you think it is unfair
scholarship (n): an amount of money that is given to a person who has passed an exam or won a competition, in order to help pay for their studies
dissuaded (v): to persuade somebody not to do something
innate (adj.): quality that one has when one is born
forefathers (n): a member of your family, especially a man, who lived a long time ago
superiority (n): the fact that one person or thing is better, stronger, etc. than another
ashamed (adj.): feeling guilty or embarrassed about somebody/something or because of something you have done
conglomeration (n): a mixture of different things that are found together
subedar (n): (in the Indian or Pakistani armies) a mid-level junior commissioned officer
Explanation: The narrator says that his mother did not like the fact that Chandu won a scholarship in school while her own son had to pay fees. She did not want the narrator to play with Chandu because Chandu was from a low-caste barber family, and she believed her son should behave according to their higher caste and class. But the narrator did not feel superior at all. In fact, he felt uncomfortable and embarrassed by the red mark that showed his caste, his mother put on his forehead every day and by the fancy clothes he had to wear. He wished he could dress freely like Chandu. Chandu wore simple but colourful and interesting clothes like khaki shorts given by a retired soldier, a worn-out black coat covered with buttons, and a round cap that once belonged to the village lawyer. The narrator liked Chandu’s style much more than his own strict and formal outfit.
Passage: And I envied Chandu the freedom of movement which he enjoyed after his father died of plague. For then he would do the round of shaving and hair-cutting at the houses of the high-caste notables in the morning, bathe and dress, and then steal a ride to town, six miles away, on the foot- rest of the closed carriage in which Lalla Chand Hukam Chand travelled to town. But Chandu was kind to me. He knew that I was seldom taken to town, and that I had to trudge three weary miles to a secondary school in the village of Joadiala with the fear of God in my heart, while he had been completely absolved from the ordeal of being flogged by cruel masters as he had left school after his father’s death. So he always brought me some gift or other from the town – a paint brush, or gold ink, or white chalk, or a double- edged penknife to sharpen pencils with; and he would entertain me with long merry descriptions of the variety of things he saw in the bazaars of civilization.
Word Meanings:
plague (n): any infectious disease that spreads quickly and kills many people
seldom (adv.): not often; rarely
foot- rest (n): a support for the feet or a foot, used when sitting
carriage (n): a vehicle with wheels that is pulled by horses
trudge (v): a long and tiring walk
absolved (v): to say formally that somebody does not have to take responsibility for something
ordeal (n): a very unpleasant or difficult experience
flogged (v): to hit somebody hard several times with a stick or a long thin piece of leather (whip) as a punishment
bazaars (n): a market
Explanation: The narrator says he was jealous of Chandu’s freedom after Chandu’s father died of illness. Chandu no longer had to go to school and was free to move around the village and nearby town. Every morning he shaved and cut hair for the rich, high-caste people, then bathed, dressed up, and secretly rode to the town by standing on the footrest of the lawyer Lalla Hukam Chand’s carriage. The narrator, on the other hand, rarely got to visit the town. He had to walk three miles every day to a school in another village, feeling scared of the strict teachers who often beat students. Chandu did not have to face this anymore because he had left school. But Chandu was very kind. Whenever he went to town, he brought the narrator small gifts. He also entertained the narrator with long and exciting stories about all the interesting things he saw in the busy town markets, which the narrator had never experienced.
Passage: He was particularly detailed in his description of the wonderful English styles in clothes which he saw the sahibs and the lawyers, the chaprasis and the policemen wearing at the District Court, where he had to wait for the journey home at the back of Lalla Hukam Chand’s phaeton”. And, once or twice, he expressed to me a secret wish he had to steal some money from the pitcher where his mother kept the emoluments of his professional skill, to buy himself a rig-out like that of Kalan Khan, the dentist, who, he said, performed miracles in the town, fitting people with rows of teeth and even new eyes. He described to me the appearance of Kalan Khan, a young man with hair parted on one side, and dressed in a starched shirt, with an ivory collar and bow tie, a black coat and striped trousers, and a wonderful rubber overcoat and pumps. And he recounted to me the skill with which this magician unpacked an Angrezi leather hand-bag and flourished his shining steel instruments.
Word Meanings:
sahibs (n): a polite title or form of address for a man
chaprasis (n): a junior office worker who carries messages
phaeton (n): a light four-wheeled open carriage drawn by four horses
emoluments (n): compensation for a job which is usually monetary
rig-out (n): an outfit of clothes
flourished (v): to wave something in the air so that people will notice it
Explanation: The narrator says that Chandu would describe the English-style clothes he saw people wearing in the town, like the sahibs (British men), lawyers, office workers, and policemen. Chandu used to wait near the court for Lalla Hukam Chand’s vehicle, so he had plenty of time to observe these stylish people closely. Sometimes, Chandu even secretly wished he could steal a little money from the pot where his mother kept his earnings, just so he could buy clothes like Kalan Khan, the town’s famous dentist. Chandu admired Kalan Khan a lot because he looked very smart and did amazing work, he could fix people’s teeth and even give them artificial eyes. Chandu described Kalan Khan as a young man who parted his hair neatly on one side and wore clean clothes. Chandu was amazed by how professionally the dentist opened his English leather bag and showed his shiny steel instruments. To Chandu, this all looked magical, and he dreamed of looking like him one day.
Passage: Then he asked my advice on the question of whether as a barber educated to the fifth primary class, he would not look more dignified if he, too, wore a dress in the style of Dr. Kalan Khan, ‘for though I am not a highly educated doctor,’ he said, ‘I learnt how to treat pimples, boils and cuts on people’s bodies from my father, who learnt from his father before him.” I agreed with his project and encouraged him with the enthusiasm I felt for everything that my hero thought or did. One day I was thrilled to find Chandu at the door of my house in the morning. He was dressed up in a white turban, a white rubber coat (a little too big for him, but nevertheless very splendid), a pair of pumps in which I could see my face reflected in clear silhouette’s, and he had a leather bag in his hand. He was setting off on his round and had come to show me how grand he looked in his new rig-out.
Word Meanings:
dignified (adj.): behaving in a calm, serious way that makes other people respect you
silhouette (n): the dark outline or shape of a person or an object that can be seen against a light background
Explanation: Chandu once asked the narrator for advice. He wanted to know whether, as a barber who had studied up to fifth class, he would look more respectable if he dressed like Dr. Kalan Khan, the smart dentist he looked up to. Chandu said that even though he was not a real doctor, he knew how to treat small things like pimples and cuts, skills he had learned from his father and grandfather. The narrator, who looked up to Chandu and supported everything he did, encouraged him happily. One morning, the narrator felt very excited and proud when Chandu came to his house wearing his new outfit. Chandu wore a white turban, a white coat, shining shoes in which the narrator could see his own reflection, and carried a leather bag just like the dentist. Chandu had dressed up for his barber rounds and had come to show the narrator how grand and important he looked in his new clothes.
Passage: ‘Marvellous!’ I said, ‘Marvellous!’ And he rushed off towards the house of the landlord, whom he shaved every morning, myself following admiringly behind. There were not many people in the street at this time. So I alone witnessed the glory of Chandu, dressed up as a doctor, except, of course, that he himself seemed rather self-conscious as he strutted up the street, carefully avoiding the taint of cow-dung cakes which flowed through the drains. But as we entered the home of the landlord we met Devi, the landlord’s little son, who clapped his hands with joy and shouted to announce the coming of Chandu, the barber, in a beautiful heroic dress like that of the Padre Sahib of the Mission School.
Word Meanings:
marvellous (adj.): very good; wonderful
admiringly (adv.): a feeling of liking and respecting somebody/something very much
self-conscious (adj.): too worried about what other people think about you
strutted (v): stood or walked stiffly
cow-dung cakes (n): a flat, dried cake made from cow dung and hay, used primarily as a traditional fuel source for cooking and religious ceremonies
heroic (adj.): very brave
Explanation: The narrator was impressed when he saw Chandu dressed like a doctor. Chandu then hurried towards the landlord’s house, where he shaved the landlord every morning, and the narrator followed behind him, looking at him proudly. Since it was early, there were hardly any people in the street, so only the narrator got to see Chandu looking so grand in his new doctor-like outfit. Chandu, however, felt a little shy and awkward as he walked, trying hard not to step on the cow-dung flowing in the street. When they entered the landlord’s house, they met Devi, the landlord’s young son. Devi became very excited and clapped his hands. He shouted happily, announcing that Chandu the barber had arrived looking like a hero, dressed just like the priest from the Mission School.
Passage: ‘Ram! Ram! Ram!’ said Bijay Chand, the burly landlord, touching the sacred thread which hung over his ear since he had just been to the lavatory. “The son of a pig! He is bringing a leather bag of cow-hide into our house and a coat of the marrow of, I don’t know, some other animals, and those evil black Angrezi shoes. Get out! Get out! You son of a devil! You will defile my religion. I suppose you have no fear of anyone now that your father is dead.”
Word Meanings:
burly (adj.): large, well-built, and muscular
lavatory (n): a toilet
marrow (n): bone marrow
defile (v): damage the purity or appearance of
Explanation: As soon as the landlord saw Chandu dressed like a doctor, he became extremely angry. He insulted Chandu harshly, calling him “the son of a pig,” and said that Chandu was bringing unclean things into his house like, a leather bag made from cow skin, a coat made from the remains of animals, and shiny black English shoes. According to the landlord, all these items were impure and would destroy his religion if they entered his home. He shouted at Chandu to get out immediately, calling him a devil’s son, and accused him of being disrespectful just because his father was no longer alive to control him.
Passage: ‘But I am wearing the clothes of a doctor, Jagirdar Sahib,’ said Chandu.
‘Go away you swine, go away and wear clothes befitting your low status as a barber, and don’t let me see you practising any of your new- fangled notions, or else I will have you flogged.”
‘But Raj Bijay Chand Sahib!’ Chandu appealed.
‘Get away! Get away! You useless one!’ the landlord shouted.
‘Don’t come any nearer, or we will have to treat the whole house with the sacred cow-dung to purify it.’
Word Meanings:
swine (n): a very unpleasant person
befitting (adj.): appropriate to the occasion or purpose
new- fangled notions (n): new, often modern or unfamiliar ideas, beliefs
Explanation: Chandu tried to explain himself politely. He said that he was wearing a doctor’s clothes and hoped the landlord would understand that he was simply trying to look professional and respectable. But the landlord became even more angry and told him to go away, saying that he should wear clothes that suited his low position as a barber and that he should not try any new or modern ideas. He even threatened that Chandu would be beaten if he continued behaving like this, because he believed barbers should stay in their traditional lower place and not try to rise higher or dress like educated people. Chandu again tried to appeal respectfully, calling out to him, but the landlord refused to listen and shouted that he should get away and not come any nearer. He warned that if Chandu stepped inside, he would have to clean the entire house with sacred cow-dung to purify it, as he believed that Chandu’s new clothes and leather bag made the house religiously impure.
Passage: Chandu returned. His face was flushed. He was completely taken aback. He did not look at me because of the shame he felt at being insulted before me whose hero he knew he was. And he rushed towards the shop of Thanu Ram, the Sahukar of the village, who kept a grocer’s store at the corner of the lane. Devi, the landlord’s son, had begun to cry at his father’s harsh words, and I stopped to quieten him. When I got to the head of the lane I saw the Sahukar with one end of the scale in which he had been weighing grain lifted in one hand, abusing Chandu in the foulest way. ‘You little swine, you go disguising yourself as a clown when you ought to be bearing your responsibilities and looking after your old mother. You go wearing the defiled clothes of the hospital folk! Go, and come back in your own clothes! Then I shall let you cut my hair!’ And as he said so he felt for the ritual tuft knot on top of his head.
Word Meanings:
flushed (adj.): with a hot red face
sahukar (n): a moneylender
tuft knot (n): a sacred knot of hair worn by many Hindu men
Explanation: Chandu came back with his face red and full of embarrassment. He looked completely shocked by what had happened. He did not look at the narrator, because he felt ashamed after being insulted in front of someone who admired him so much. Hurt and confused, he quickly ran toward the shop of Thanu Ram, the village moneylender. Meanwhile, the landlord’s little son, Devi, had started crying after hearing his father shout, so the narrator stopped to calm him. When the narrator reached, he saw Thanu Ram holding up one side of his weighing scale and shouting terrible insults at Chandu. The Sahukar scolded Chandu harshly, saying he was acting foolish by dressing up in ridiculous clothes instead of taking care of his duties, especially looking after his old mother. He angrily told Chandu that the clothes he was wearing were “impure” and ordered him to go home. He said Chandu should return only in his normal barber clothes if he wanted to be allowed to cut his hair. As he shouted, the Sahukar touched the small sacred hair knot on his head, as if to protect his purity.
Passage: Chandu looked very crestfallen, and ran in a wild rage past me, as if I had been responsible for these mishaps. And I nearly cried to think that he hated me now just because I belonged to a superior caste. ‘Go to Pandit Parmanand!’ I shouted after him, ‘and tell him that these garments you are wearing are not unclean.’ ‘Ho, so you are in league with him,’ said Pandit Parmanandm, emerging from the landlord’s home, where he had been apparently summoned to discuss this unholy emergency. ‘You boys have been spoiled by the school education which you have got. It may be all right for you to wear those things because you are going to be a learned man, but what right has that low-caste boy to such apparel? He has got to touch our beards, our head and our hands. He is defiled enough by God. Why does he want to become more defiled? You are a high-caste boy. And he is a low-caste devil! He is a rogue!’
Word Meanings:
crestfallen (adj.): sad because of a recent disappointment
mishaps (n): a small accident or piece of bad luck that does not have serious results
summoned (v): to order a person to come to a place
apparel (n): clothes, especially those worn on a formal occasion
rogue (adj.): to start behaving in a way that is not normal or expected
Explanation : Chandu looked extremely sad, and he ran past the narrator in anger, almost as if the narrator were to blame for everything that had happened. The narrator felt like crying because it hurt him to think that Chandu might now hate him just because he belonged to a higher caste. The narrator called out, telling Chandu to go to Pandit Parmanand and explain that his new clothes were not dirty or impure. But at that moment, Pandit Parmanand himself came out of the landlord’s house, where he had been called to deal with this “impure” situation. The Pandit accused the narrator of supporting Chandu and said that school education had spoiled boys like them. He claimed that even if the narrator could wear such clothes because he was from a high caste and would become an educated man, Chandu had no right to wear them. He said Chandu was low-caste, already “impure,” and should not try to rise above his place. He angrily called Chandu a “devil” and a “rogue,” showing the strong caste discrimination in the village.
Passage: Chandu had heard this. He did not look back and ran in a flurry, as if he were set on some purpose which occupied him more than the abuse which had been the cause of his flight. My mother called to me and said it was time for me to eat and go to school, or I should be late. And she could not resist the temptation to lecture me again about my associating with the barber boy. But I was very disturbed about Chandu’s fate all day, and, on my way back from school, I called in at the hovel where he lived with his mother.
Word Meanings:
flurry (n): any sdden activity or a stir
hovel (n): an open shed for sheltering cattle
Explanation: Chandu heard everything that Pandit Parmanand said, but he did not stop or look back. Instead, he ran quickly. At that moment, the narrator’s mother called him home, reminding him to eat and get ready for school or he would be late. She also repeated her usual lecture, telling him not to spend time with a barber boy like Chandu because of caste differences. But the narrator could not stop thinking about what had happened to Chandu. He worried about him the entire day. After school, still feeling concerned, the narrator went to Chandu’s small house to check on him and see how he was doing.
Passage: His mother was well known for a cantankerous old woman, because she, a low-caste woman, dared to see the upper caste people as they never dared to see themselves. She was always very kind to me, though she spoke to me too in a bantering manner, which she had acquired through the suffering and humiliations of sixty-odd years. Turning to me she said: ‘Well, you have come, have you, to look for your friend. If your mother knew that you were here she would scratch my eyes out for casting my evil eye on your sweet face. And you, are you as innocent as you look or are you a sneaking little hypocrite like the rest of your lot?’
Word Meanings:
cantankerous (adj.): given to or marked by an ill-tempered nature
bantering (v): involving conversation that is funny and not serious
humiliations (n): to reduce someone to a lower position in one’s own eyes or others’ eyes
hypocrite (n): a person who pretends to have moral standards or opinions which they do not really have
Explanation: Chandu’s mother was known in the village as a difficult woman, mainly because she, a low-caste woman, dared to look directly at upper-caste people in a bold way that they themselves never dared to look at each other. Despite her tough nature, she was always kind to the narrator, although she spoke to him jokingly and sharply, a habit that she had developed after facing sixty years of suffering. When the narrator arrived, Chandu’s mother spoke to him in her usual sharp way. She said that he had come looking for his friend and warned that if his mother ever found out he was visiting their house, she would “scratch her eyes out” for casting her “evil eye” on his innocent face. She then questioned whether the narrator was truly as innocent as he looked or if he was just another pretending, two-faced person like many other high-caste people she had met in her life.
Passage: ‘Where is Chandu, then, mother?’ I said. ‘I don’t know, son,’ she said, now in a sincere simple manner. ‘He went up town way and says he earned some money shaving people on the roadside. I don’t know what he is up to. I don’t think he ought to annoy the clients his father served. He is a child and gets funny notions into his head and they ought not to be angry with him. He is only a boy. You want to see him and go out playing, I suppose. Very well, I will tell him when he comes. He has just gone up the road, I think.’ ‘All right, mother,’ I said, and went home. Chandu whistled for me that afternoon in the usual code whistle which we had arranged to evade the reproaches of interfering elders that our association often provoked.
Word Meanings:
whistled (v): to make a musical or a high sound by forcing air out between your lips or by blowing a whistle
evade (v): to manage to escape from or to avoid meeting somebody/something
reproaches (v): to tell somebody that they have done something wrong
provoked (v): to cause a particular feeling or reaction
Explanation: When the narrator asked, as to where Chandu was, his mother suddenly became serious and gentle. She told him she did not really know where Chandu was. She explained that he had gone toward the town and claimed he had earned some money by shaving people on the roadside. She said she had no idea what he was planning and worried that he might upset the regular customers who had trusted his father. She said Chandu was still just a child who often got strange ideas in his head, and the villagers should not be so angry with him because he was only a boy. She guessed the narrator wanted to meet Chandu and play as usual, and promised to tell him when he returned. The narrator agreed and went home. Later, Chandu called him using their secret whistle, the special code they had created to avoid getting scolded by adults who disapproved of their friendship.
Passage: ‘Come for a walk to the bazaar,’ he said. ‘I want to talk to you.’ And hardly had I joined him when he began: ‘Do you know, I earned a rupee shaving and hair-cutting near the court this morning? If I hadn’t had to come back on the back bar of Hukam Chand’s carriage early in the afternoon I should have earned more. But I am going to teach these orthodox idiots a lesson. I am going on strike. I shall not go to their houses to attend to them. I am going to buy a Japanese bicycle from the gambling son of Lalla Hukam Chand for five rupees, and I shall learn to ride it and I will go to town on it every day. Won’t I look grand, riding on a bicycle, with my overcoat, my black leather shoes, and a white turban on my head, specially as there is a peg in front of the two-wheeled carriage for hanging my tool-bag?”
Word Meanings:
orthodox (adj.): closely following the old, traditional beliefs, ceremonies, etc.
strike (n): a period of time when people refuse to go to work, usually because they want more money or better working conditions
gambling (n): the activity of risking money on the result of something, such as a game or horse race, hoping to make money
overcoat (n): a long thick coat that you wear in cold weather
peg (n): a protrusion used to hang things on
Explanation: Chandu called the narrator using their secret whistle and asked him to come for a walk to the markets to talk. As soon as the narrator joined him, Chandu excitedly shared his news. He had earned one whole rupee that morning by shaving and cutting hair near the court in town. He said that if he had not needed to return early on Hukam Chand’s carriage, he could have earned even more. Then he angrily added that he was going to teach the strict villagers a lesson. He declared he would stop going to their houses to serve them. Chandu announced that he planned to buy a Japanese bicycle for five rupees from Hukam Chand’s gambler son. He said he would learn to ride it and travel to town every day. He imagined how amazing he would look on the bicycle and he was excited about the hook on the bicycle where he could hang his leather tool bag.
Passage: ‘Yes,’ I agreed, greatly thrilled, not because I imagined the glory of Chandu seated on a bicycle, but because I felt myself nearer the goal of my own ambition; since I felt that if Chandu acquired a bicycle he would at least let me ride to town on the elongated bolt at the back wheel or on the front bar, if he didn’t let me learn to ride myself and lend me the machine every now and then. Chandu negotiated the deal about the bicycle with an assurance that seemed to me a revelation of his capacity for business such as I had never suspected in him, from the reckless way he spent his money. And then he said to me in a confidential voice: ‘You wait for another day or two. I shall show you something which will make you laugh as you have never laughed before.”
Word Meanings:
elongated (adj.): extensive in length
negotiated (v): to talk to somebody in order to decide or agree about something
revelation (n): something that is made known, that was secret or unknown before, especially something surprising
reckless (adj.): not thinking about possible bad or dangerous results that could come from your actions
confidential (adj.): meant to be kept secret
Explanation: The narrator happily agreed with Chandu’s plan, not because he imagined how grand Chandu would look on a bicycle, but because he secretly hoped that if Chandu bought one, he would let him ride it too. He dreamed of sitting on the metal bar at the back wheel or maybe even learning to ride the bicycle himself if Chandu allowed it. Chandu discussed the bicycle deal with confidence, and the narrator felt amazed, he had never realized Chandu was so good at handling business matters, especially since Chandu usually spent money carelessly. Then Chandu leaned close and said in a secretive, excited voice, to wait for a day or two for him to show the narrator something.
Passage: ‘Tell me now,’ I insisted, with an impatience sharpened by the rhythm of the excitement with which the spirit of his adventure filled my being. ‘No, you wait,’ he said. ‘I can only give you a hint at the moment. It is a secret that only a barber can know. Now let me get on with the job of learning to handle this machine. You hold it while I get on it, and I think it will be all right.” ‘But,’ I said, ‘this is not the way to learn to ride a bicycle. My father learned to ride from the peg at the back, and my brother learnt to ride by first trying to balance on the pedal.’ ‘Your father is a top-heavy baboon”, said Chandu. ‘And your brother is a long-legged spider.” I,’ he continued, ‘was born, my mother tells me, upside down.”
Word Meanings:
impatience (n): the feeling of wanting something to happen as soon as possible
baboon (n): (here) an uncivilized person
Explanation: The narrator begged Chandu to tell him the secret immediately because he was filled with excitement about Chandu’s new adventure. But Chandu refused and asked the narrator to wait . Then he told the narrator to help him with the bicycle so he could continue practising. Chandu asked him to hold the bicycle steady while he tried to get on, believing he could manage that way. The narrator tried to explain that this was not the correct method. But Chandu brushed this off rudely and humorously. He then said jokingly that he was born upside down, suggesting he was different and could learn in his own unusual way.
Passage: ‘All right,’ I said. And I held the bicycle for him. But while my gaze concentrated with admiration on the brilliant sheen of the polished bars, I lost my grip and Chandu fell on the other side with a thud, along with the machine. There were peals of laughter from the shop of the Sahukar, where several peasants congregated round the figure of the landlord. And then the Sahukar could be heard shouting: ‘Serve you right, you rascally son of the iron age! Break your bones and die, you upstart! You won’t come to your senses otherwise!’ Chandu hung his head with shame, and muttered an oath at me, ‘You fool, you are no good!’ though I had thought that he would grip me by the neck and give me a good thrashing for being the cause of his discomfiture. Then he looked at me, smiled embarrassedly, and said: “We will see who has the last laugh, I or they.”
Word Meanings:
peasants (n): a person who owns or rents a small piece of land on which they grow food and keep animals in order to feed their family
congregated (v): to come together in a crowd or group
upstart (n): a person who has suddenly risen in rank and importance but behaves as if they are more important than other people, in a way that is annoying
thrashing (n): the action of hitting somebody/something many times with a stick, etc. as a punishment
discomfiture (n): confusion
Explanation: The narrator agreed to help and held the bicycle for Chandu. But while he was admiring the shiny metal bars, he accidentally loosened his grip. Chandu fell over with a loud thud, dragging the bicycle down with him. Immediately, loud laughter came from the Sahukar’s shop, where the landlord and several villagers were watching. The Sahukar shouted insults, saying Chandu deserved it. Chandu felt deeply ashamed. The narrator thought Chandu might beat him for causing the accident, but instead Chandu looked up, gave an embarrassed little smile, and said with determination, that he would see to it as to who got the last laugh.
Passage: ‘I will hold the machine tightly this time,’ I said earnestly, and I picked it up from where it lay. ‘Yes, break your bones, you swine,’ came the landlord’s call. ‘Don’t you care!’ Chandu said to me. ‘I will show them.’ And he mounted the bicycle as I exerted all my strength to hold it tight. Then he said: ‘Let go!” I released my grip.
Word Meanings:
earnestly (adv.): in a serious and determined way
mounted (adj.): to go up something or up on to something
Explanation: The narrator promised that he would hold the bicycle tightly this time and carefully lifted it from the ground. Someone then from the landlord’s shop cruelly shouted and encouraged them to break their bones. Chandu ignored him and told the narrator to not care about them. He climbed onto the bicycle again while the narrator used all his strength to hold it steady. Then Chandu called out, to let go and the narrator immediately released his grip.
Passage: He had pressed the pedal with a downward pressure of his right foot, hard, and, as the wheels revolved, he swayed dangerously to one side. But he had pushed the other pedal now. The machine balanced, inclining to the right a little, so that I saw Chandu lift his rump” from the saddle in the most frightening manner. He hung precariously for a moment. His handles wobbled dangerously. He was tottering. At this juncture a mixed noise of laughter and sarcasm arose from the congregation at the shop and I thought that Chandu would come to grief with this confusion, if not on account of his utter incapacity. By a curious miracle, however, Chandu’s feet had got into the right rhythm for pedaling and his handle had adjusted itself to his stiff hands, and he rode off with me running behind him, bursting myself with enthusiastic ‘Shabashes.”
Word Meanings:
rump (n): buttock
saddle (n): a seat on a bicycle or motorbike
precariously (adv.): in a risky manner
tottering (v): to stand or move in a way that is not steady, as if you are going to fall
Explanation: Chandu pushed the pedal down hard with his right foot, and as the wheels began to turn, but he leaned dangerously to one side. Then he pressed the other pedal, and the bicycle steadied a little, though it still leaned to the right. The narrator saw Chandu lift himself off the seat in a way that was scary, hanging there as if he might fall at any moment. Chandu looked as though he might crash. At that moment, the people at the landlord’s shop burst into loud laughter and mocking comments, and it seemed to the narrator that Chandu would fall either because of the noise or because he simply could not ride. But then, like a strange miracle, Chandu’s feet suddenly found the right rhythm, his hands settled, and he began riding smoothly. The narrator ran behind him, praising him as Chandu rode away.
Passage: A half a mile run and he repeated the trick. Though I was very eager to share the joy of his newly acquired skill, I didn’t see Chandu the next day, as I was being taken to see my aunts in Verka, straight from school. But on the third day he called for me and said that he would show me the joke he had talked of the other day. I followed quickly, asking the while: “Tell me, what is it all about?’ ‘Look,’ he said, hiding behind the oven of the village potter. ‘Do you see the congregation of men in the Sahukar’s shop? Try and see who’s there.’ I explored the various faces and, for a moment, I was quite baffled.
Word Meanings:
acquired (v): to obtain or buy something
baffled (adj.): to cause someone to be completely unable to understand or explain something
Explanation After running for some distance, Chandu repeated the trick. The narrator was eager to share the joy of Chandu’s newly learned skill, but did not see him the next day, as the narrator was taken directly from school to visit his aunts in Verka. On the third day, however, Chandu called for the narrator and announced that he would finally reveal the joke he had mentioned earlier. The narrator followed him quickly and asked about the joke. Chandu, from behind the village potter’s oven, asked the narrator to look at the group of men gathered in the Sahukar’s shop and try to recognise who was among them, and as the narrator looked at their faces he found himself completely confused.
Passage: ‘Only the peasants sitting round waiting for the landlord,’ I said. ‘Look again, Idiot, ‘he said, ‘and see. The landlord is there, his long- jawed face dirtied the white scum of his unshaved beard.” ‘Ha! Ha!’ I shouted hilariously, struck by the contradiction of the big thick moustache (which I knew the landlord dyed) with the prickly white brush on his jowls. ‘Ha! Ha!’ I roared, ‘a sick lion! He looks seedy!’ ‘Sh!’ warned Chandu. Don’t make a row! But look at the Sahukar. He looks like a leper with the brown tinge of tobacco on his walrus moustache which I once used to trim. Now you run past the shop and call “beavers, beavers”. They can’t say anything to you:” I was too impetuous a disciple of the impish Chandu to wait to deliberate.
Word Meanings:
scum (n): dirty outside layer
jowls (n): the loose skin under the jaw
seedy (adj.): dirty and unpleasant
leper (n): a person who has leprosy which is a disease of the nerves and skin
tobacco (n): the substance that people smoke in cigarettes and pipes
impetuous (adj.): impulsive, rash
impish (adj.): mischievous
Explanation: When the narrator first said he could only see workers waiting for the landlord, Chandu told him to look again. When the narrator noticed the landlord’s face covered with unshaven beard he burst into loud laughter at how strange the man looked, with his big dyed moustache and white cheeks, while Chandu quickly hushed him and pointed out that even the Sahukar now looked like a leper with the brown tobacco stains on his moustache, then ordered the narrator to run past the shop shouting “beavers, beavers,” saying the men would not be able to do anything to him.
Passage: ‘Beavers! Beavers! Beavers!’ I shouted as I ran past the shop to the edge of the platform by the banyan tree. The peasants who were gathered round the shop burst out laughing, as they had apparently been itching to, for they had noticed the strong growths on the elders’ faces, though they had not dared to say anything. ‘Catch him, catch him, the little rogue!’ shouted the Sahukar. ‘He is in league with that barber boy, Chandu!’ But, of course, I had climbed up the banyan tree, from which I jumped on to the wall of the temple and shouted my slogan at the priest.
Word Meanings:
beavers (n): a bearded man
banyan tree (n): an Indian tree with branches that put out roots which grow downwards till they reach the ground
Explanation: The narrator ran past the shop shouting, “Beavers! Beavers! Beavers!” and stopped near the banyan tree. The villagers sitting there started laughing loudly, because they had also noticed the thick hair on the elders’ faces but were too scared to say anything. The Sahukar asked others to catch the narrator stating that he was working with Chandu. But the narrator had already climbed the banyan tree, jumped onto the temple wall, and shouted the same joke at the priest.
Passage: The rumour about the barber boy’s strike spread, and jokes about the unkempt beards of the elders of the village became current in every home. Even those who were of high castes, even the members of the families of the elders, began to giggle with laughter at the shabby appearance of the great ones and made rude remarks about their persons. And it was said that at least the landlord’s wife threatened to run away with somebody, because, being younger than her husband by twenty years, she had borne with him as long as he kept himself in trim, but was now disgusted with him beyond the limits of reconciliation.
Word Meanings:
unkempt (adj.): not well cared for
shabby (adj.): dressed in an untidy way
borne (v): to tolerate
reconciliation (n): the process of making two people or groups of people friendly again
Explanation: News spread everywhere that Chandu had stopped working, and soon every house in the village was making jokes about the elders’ messy, untrimmed beards. Even high-caste people, and even the elders’ own family members laughed at how untidy the important men looked and made fun of them. People even said that the landlord’s wife threatened to run away with someone else because she was much younger than her husband and had tolerated him only as long as he kept himself neat. Now that he looked so untidy, she was completely disgusted with him.
Passage: Chandu did good business in town during these days and saved money, even though he bought new clothes and new tools for himself and gave me various presents. The village elders threatened to have him sent to prison for his offences, and ordered his mother to force him to obey before they committed him to the police for a breach of the peace. But Chandu’s mother had for the first time in her life touched the edge of prosperity, and she told them all what she thought of them in a language even plainer than that in which she had always addressed them. Then they thought of getting the barber of Verka to come and attend them, and offered him an anna instead of the two pice they had usually paid to Chandu.
Word Meanings:
prosperity (n): the state of being successful, especially with money
anna (n): a former monetary unit of India and Pakistan, equal to one sixteenth of a rupee
Explanation: During this time, Chandu earned good money working in town. He saved some of it, bought himself new clothes and tools, and gave the narrator small gifts. The village elders became angry and threatened to send him to jail for misbehaving. They told his mother to control him or they would report him to the police for disturbing the peace. But Chandu’s mother, who for the first time in her life was experiencing a bit of financial comfort because of Chandu’s earnings, spoke back to the elders boldly and insulted them even more harshly than she usually did. After this, the elders decided to call the barber from the nearby town of Verka to come and serve them, and they offered him one anna as payment, instead of the two pice they normally gave Chandu.
Passage: Chandu, however, had conceived a new notion this time, newer than those he had ever thought of before. Having seen the shop of Nringan Das, the barber of the town, he had applied his brain to the scheme of opening a shop on the wayside at the head of the bazaar, in partnership with his cousin, the barber of Verka, and with Dhunoo and the other barbers with in a range of seven miles from his village. He proposed his new idea to his cousin and Dhunoo and all the other barbers at a special meeting of his craft, and, by the gift of the gab which he had, besides his other qualities of Head and Heart, he convinced them all that it was time that the elders of the village came to them to be shaved rather than that they should dance attendance upon their lords and masters. ‘Rajkot District Barber Brothers’ Hairdressing and Shaving Saloon’ has been followed by many other active trade unions of working men in our parts.
Word Meanings:
conceived (v): developed an idea
wayside (n): the edge of a road
gift of the gab (phrase): the quality of talking on trivial issues
trade unions (n): an organization for people who all do the same type of work. Trade unions try to get better pay and working conditions for their members
Explanation: Chandu came up with a brand-new idea. After visiting the shop of the town barber, he got the idea to open a proper barber shop near the market. He wanted to run this shop together with his cousin, who was the barber of Verka, and also with Dhunoo and the other barbers who lived close to the village. Chandu shared his idea at a special meeting of all the barbers. Because he was a good speaker and had both intelligence and confidence, he convinced all of them that from now on, the village elders should come to the barbers for their shaves, instead of making the barbers visit their houses like servants. This idea led to the creation of the “Rajkot District Barber Brothers’ Hairdressing and Shaving Saloon.” It later inspired many other working men in the region to form their own trade unions.
Conclusion
This post provides the students with a comprehensive understanding of Chapter 5 The Barber’s Trade Union By Mulk Raj Anand from the PSEB Class 12 English A Rainbow of English Book. It provides the students with the introduction, theme, summary, lesson explanation with word meanings, ensuring that the students comprehend the chapter effectively.