Menial Job
NCERT Exercise
Tell
Why did Gandhiji and his team start doing the job of cleaning? What do you think about this?
Answer: Gandhiji wanted to show that every work is important. He wanted people to respect those who do menial works. He wanted the bad practice of untouchability to end. I think Gandhiji was right.
Guests at Gandhiji's Ashram had to learn this work also. If you were one of these guests, what would you do?
Answer: If I were one of the guests at Gandhiji's Ashram, I would also have done the cleaning work. Though, initially I may have refused to do so.
What are the toilet arrangements in your house? Where is the toilet? Inside the house or outside? Who cleans the toilet?
Answer: There are two toilets in my house. One of them is attached to a bedroom. My mother cleans the toilet every week.
How do people generally behave with those people who clean toilets and drains? Write.
Answer: People generally maintain a distance from the workers who clean toilets and drains. Such jobs are considered dirty.
Gandhiji's Ashram
Note: This sketch is based on a sketch by R K Laxman. I (Ajay Anand) have made this sketch.
During Gandhiji's time, toilets were entirely different than modern toilets. A toilet meant a pan kept under a platform with a hole. A person had to sit on the platform in order to shit, and the shit fell in the pan which was kept below the platform.
The sanitation workers came to collect the pan and empty the pan somewhere. Carrying the night-soil (shit) was usually done by women of a particular community. As such people were doing the dirty job they were looked as dirty people.
People from other communities avoided going anywhere near sanitation workers. Even the shadow of such people was considered to be impure. Such people were not allowed to live in the village. Their houses were always on the outskirts of the village. This practice is known as untouchability. This means that people from the mainstream avoided being touched by untouchables. Gandhiji coined a new name for them, Harijan. Gandhiji worked very hard to abolish the practice of untouchability.
Tell
Who does the cleaning in your school? What all has to be cleaned?
Answer: There are five sweepers in my school. They clean the toilets and do the sweeping and mopping of all the classrooms.
Do all children like you help in this? If yes, how?
Answer: None of the students help the sweepers in my school.
If all do not help, why not?
Answer: We never felt the need. Nobody, told us to do so.
Do the girls and boys do the same kinds of work?
Answer: In my house, my sister is learning to cook. She can make perfectly round chapattis. I am usually asked to go the nearby grocery store to buy some items.
What all works do you do at home?
Answer: I don’t have much work to do at home. I am only asked to go the nearby grocery store to buy some items.
Is the work done by boys and girls, men and women the same?
Answer: Works done by boys and girls, men and women are different. My father goes to his office every day. My mother does cooking and washing. My sister helps her. Being a boy, I am not supposed to do household chores.
Would you like to bring some change? What kind?
Answer: I would also love to learn cooking. I think, I should help my mother in laundry.
Stereotypes
Certain tasks are supposed to be done by women only. Men and boys are not supposed to do such tasks. For example, cooking, sweeping and washing are generally done by ladies of the house. We have some fixed images for roles of men and women. Such images are called stereotypes. Some examples of such stereotypes are as follows:
- When you are asked to draw a picture of a pilot, you always make a picture of a man in a pilot's uniform.
- When you are asked to draw a picture of a nurse, you always make a picture of a woman in nurse's uniform.
- When your father buys toys for you and your sister, he buys a car for you and a doll for your sister.
It gives an impression that none of the woman has ever become a pilot. None of the man has ever become a nurse. Boys should never play with a doll. Girls should never play with a toy car. All of these are examples of stereotypes.