Cart Driver | Poem 7 | Summary and Answers | English | Class 9th | Tulip Series

Cart Driver | Poem 7 | Summary and Answers |

English | Class 9th |Tulip Series | jandkncert |

Poem 7 – Cart Driver | Tulip Series | Free NCERT Solutions |

(Padma Sachdev)

Padma Sachdev born on 17th April 1940 is a prominent Dogri poet and short story writer. Her writings have given a new facelift to Dogri literature. She has been widely read and acknowledged in the literary circles. She has written about women related subjects, nature, and human emotions. Her poetry is intensely emotional. She was awarded 1971 Sahitya Academy Award for her collection of poems Meri Kavita, Meray Geet. Her short stories have also made a mark in the field of Dogri literature. Besides, five anthologies of poetry Padma has penned for Diwan Khana and Mitwa Ghar. Painful experiences in Chest disease hospital Srinagar enriched the poetess emotionally, and intellectually.

Cart Driver (Padma Sachdev)

 

In the fearful silence of the forest

I hear

The sound of the footfalls

Of a careful bulbul

Out in the night shaking the feathers on his head

To find food for its four little ones

Hungry in the nest

 

Moving slowly, afraid,

its ears pricked to pick

some sound somewhere

with the grain in its beak

it hastens to the nest

its twittering fledglings do not know

the forest is in the throes of fear

they continue chirping.

The bulbul trembles

Moves with his head raised

Alert, all ears.

 

Suddenly there is a sound of wheels

The sound of dry leaves crackling

The sound rising and subsiding

The bulbul hides itself in the bushes.

It sees

A bullock cart laden with good

Bullocks moving by themselves

Heads down

The driver asleep, snoring

Eyes covered with the head of his turban

 

What if the cart stumbles!

The cart drivers’ hookah overturns!

The forest catches fire!

It imagines the forest on fire

Wishes to run towards its nest

To save its young ones

But cannot lift its legs

Out of fear

 

(Translated from Dogri by Dr. Karan Singh)

 

 

Central Idea of the Poem

            Mother is a precious gift that Almighty has gifted to the whole living world. This poem is about love, a mother has for her children. The mother works hard to feed her children. This poem tells us how the mother takes a risk to gather the grains so that to feed her children. It reveals a tussle between the love a mother has for her own self and the love she has for her children.

 

Summary of the Poem

          The poem “Cart Driver” has been written by an Indian Dogri Poet and short story writer ‘Padma Sachdev’. The poem is about the love of the mother for her children. In this poem, the poet has described the fear of a bird in the forest. While the poet is out in the fearful silent forest, she hears the sound of the paws of a careful bulbul. The bulbul is in search of food for its four children.  The children are hungry in the nest. While the bird is searching for food, it hears a sound somewhere. It hurries to reach its nest so that to feed its children who are continuously chirping in the nest. With its head raised and trembling with fear but all alert, it continues to move to the nest as soon as possible.

          Suddenly, it hears the sound of wheels and the crackling dry leaves under the wheels that sometimes rises and sometimes become less. It hides itself, in the bushes and sees a cart laden with goods. The bullocks are moving, themselves with their heads down. It looks around the cart and sees that the driver is snoring in asleep and his eyes are covered with the end of his turban.

          The bird is worried about fear and a fearful thought rises in its mind that if the cart stumbles, the driver’s hookah overturns, the whole forest will catch the fire. As it imagines the forest on fire and tries rush to its nest to save its young ones, but out of fear and trembling it could not lift its legs.

 

Understanding the Poem

Q1. Why is the bulbul afraid? Why does the bulbul want to hasten to its nest?

Ans. The bulbul is afraid of the silence and the terror of the forest because it is difficult for it in the dark forest to find its way to the nest. While collecting the grains it hears a fearful sound so it hastens to the nest in order to take care of its young ones that are alone in the nest waiting for their mother for food.

Q2. Why does the bulbul hide itself in the bushes?

Ans. It is natural that birds are feared by sounds. When the bulbul hears sound wheels and crackling sound of dry leaves it hides itself in the bushes so that no one could see it.

Q3. What does the bulbul imagine?

Ans. When the bulbul looks on the bullock cart and sees the bullocks with heads down moving by itself and the driver with the eyes covered with the ends of his turban fast asleep, it imagines if the cart stumbles and the driver’s hookah overturns, the whole forest will be on fire and it could not lift its legs to rush to the nest to save its young ones.

Q4. What feelings does bulbul’s imagination arouse in the readers?

Ans. Bulbul’s imagination arouses in the readers the feelings of love, attachment, sympathy, and kindness towards their children. Mothers are the best caretakers of their children. They are always about their children and can take any risk for their care.

Q5. Why the poem is named `cart driver’.

Ans. The poem is named as cart driver to show the irresponsibility of the driver that may lead the birds and many animals homeless that are living in the forest. Due to his negligence forest may catch fire, this thought also terrifies the bird.

Q6. Have you ever feared anything either in reality or in your imagination? Write an account of your feelings in 300 words.

Ans. Everybody in this world has a threat to his life in one or another way. Every time I imagine death. I remember the day when I went on an excursion to my school. I was reading in sixth class then. We went to a nearby spring which is about a distance of three kilometers from my home. Just near the spring, there is a reservoir that supplies water to many villages through pipes. The reservoir was open then. When I looked down the water, I was feared falling down in the reservoir. When I came back to my home, all night I was thinking about it and my body was trembling and shivering because of the fear. Not only then but also today or whenever I think about that open reservoir, I feel the same condition. I am very much feared of waterfalls, that is why when I went to the Aharbal waterfall one day, I kept myself away from that fall so that I might not fall in the water although I was very far away from it. On that, an incident took place there in which one young fell from the fall into the water and was later recovered after twenty-two days. There are so many imaginations and the reality that happened to me that I am feared, of.

Read More About Mother, Here I Cannot Remember My Mother.

Learning about the literary device

Q1. What images does the poet use to create an atmosphere of fear and silence in the poem?

Ans. The poet uses the following images to create an atmosphere of fear and silence in the poem:

1. Fearful silence of the forest.

2. Ears picked to pick some sound

3. Throes of fear

4. The sound of wheels that rises and slows down.

5. The crackling sound of dry leaves

6. Hookah overturns

7. The forest on fire

8. Can’t lift its leg

9. Bulbul trembles

10. The bulbul hides in the bushes

 

Structure of the Poem

          The poem has been written in free verse. There is no rhyme scheme in the poem. The poem consists of four stanzas with varying lines. The length of the lines is not fixed. The poem conveys a meaningful message to the whole nation.

 

Discussion

The poem reveals a tussle between the love a mother has for her children and the love the mother has for her own self as the person. Discuss.

          Every mother loves her children. Mother is the only person who takes care of her children in real means. A child is a part of her life and body. It does not happen in human beings only, but also in all living beings. We cannot feel the feelings of a mother towards her children. I remember the time when we had a baby. During the nights his mother was regularly changing her positions from left to right, and from right to the left whenever the baby was urinating on the bed. She was sleeping on the wet side keeping the baby on the dry side so that he sleeps well and also to keep him out of harm. Then I remembered my own mother (May Almighty Allah grant her Jannat) that she might have also done so. A mother can bear anything for the safeguard of her child. She prepares food for her children without any payment. She works day and night so that she could feed her children well, dress them well, and make them fit and healthy. She sleeps only after all her children sleep and wakes up before all. Remember if you are searching for paradise then go to your mother, you will find it beneath her feet. Whatever I will say about my mother, I have no words. I don’t know where to get the words to praise my mother. There is no one other than a mother who will look after you, care for you, and love you. Love you, my mother.

 

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