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When the gong sounds ten in the morning and I walk to school by our lane,
Every day I meet the hawker crying, “Bangles, crystal bangles!”
There is nothing to hurry him on, there is no road he must take,
no place he must go to, no time when he must come home.
I wish I were a hawker, spending my day in the road, crying, “Bangles, crystal bangles!”
When at four in the afternoon I come back from the school,
I can see through the gate of that house the gardener digging the ground.
He does what he likes with his spade, he soils his clothes with dust,
nobody takes him to task, if he gets baked in the sun or gets wet.
I wish I were a gardener digging away at the garden with nobody to stop me from digging.
Just as it gets dark in the evening and my mother sends me to bed,
I can see through my open window the watchman walking up and down.
The lane is dark and lonely, and the street lamp stands like a giant with one red eye in its head.
The watchman swings his lantern and walks with his shadow at his side,
and never once goes to bed in his life.
I wish I were a watchman walking the street all night,
chasing the shadows with my lantern.
----Rabindranath Tagore
Explanation:
One fine morning at \(10\) O' clock the child heard a gong sound. The gong sound signs the school bell, where it is the first part of the day. The child hurried to school because the bell rang. When the child is on the way to school, he used to see a hawker (salesman) who would shout "bangles, crystal bangles". The hawker was selling the bangles without any stress and time restrictions. The child had a lot of time restrictions, and had to reach the school on time.
Hawker
The child's want to be a hawker where the hawker doesn't have any timing restrictions, and he is so free to go wherever he wants. So, the child wishes to be a hawker where he can happily sell the bangles on the road by shouting without any stress of going to school on time and coming back home.
In the evening at \(4\) O' clock when the child was returning home from school, he notices a gardener. The gardener was digging the soil with the spade where the child could see him through his house's gate. The gardener was digging the ground and didn't notice that the soil had spoiled his clothes. The child saw that the gardener's clothes are stained with the dirt where he won't answer anyone because the child thought that the gardener is so happy with his work, but the child is not aware of the gardener's struggle of digging the soil and getting sweat in the hot sun for long hours. The child wished to be a gardener where he can have different options to do the work that would never stop him.
Gardener
The sky got dark, and the child's mother made him sleep in his room. There was an open window in the child's room from where he could see a watchman who was walking outside in the dark with a lamp. He looked like a superman with red-eye and moving forward for the whole night. 
The watchman was walking in the dark lonely street where he could see his shadow through his lamplight and would never sleep at night all his life. Moreover, the watchman was doing his job without fear, and the child thinks that the watchman is so comfortable and living a happy life. So the child wished to be a watchman where he can walk all the street at night and enjoy his companion through his lamplight without any fear.
Watchman
The watchman was walking in the dark lonely street where he could see his shadow through his lamplight and would never sleep at night all his life. Moreover, the watchman was doing his job without fear, and the child thinks that the watchman is so comfortable and living a happy life. So the child wished to be a watchman where he can walk all the street at night and enjoy his companion through his lamplight without any fear.
Meanings of difficult words:
Numbers | Words | Meanings |
1. | digging | break up and move earth with a tool or machine. |
2. | spade | a tool with a sharp-edged, typically rectangular, metal blade and a long handle, used for digging. |
3. | lane | a narrow road, especially in a rural area. |
4. | lantern | a lamp with a transparent case protecting the flame or electric bulb, and typically having a handle by which it may be carried or hung. |
5. | red-eye | caused by a reflection from the retina when the flashgun is too near the camera lens. |
Reference:
National Council of Educational Research and Training (2006). Honeysuckle. Vocation - Rabindranath Tagore (pp. 109-111). Published at the Publication Division by the Secretary, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi.
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