NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 2 Gifts of Grace: Honouring Our Vocations (poem) — Reflect and Respond

Book page 57 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.

I. Given below are four riddles. Read and identify who these people are. 1. In furrows deep, secrets I sow, As time passes, I watch them grow. Who am I? ________________ 2. From wheel to kiln, my skill is born, Step by step, an art takes form. Who am I? ________________ 3. I lay foundations, brick by brick, To build a house, it’s me you pick. Who am I? ________________ 4. I work with pots, pans, and spice, Creating dishes that taste so nice. Who am I? ________________

Answer

No.	Answer	The words that give it away
1	A farmer	“furrows” are the long grooves a plough cuts in a field; “sow” and “watch them grow” complete the season
2	A potter / pot maker	“From wheel to kiln” names the two pieces of equipment no other trade uses together; “step by step, an art takes form” describes the very process Sentila watched
3	A mason (bricklayer)	“lay foundations, brick by brick” — the mason is also one of the workers the poem itself names
4	A cook / chef	“pots, pans, and spice… dishes” — and the poem speaks of “the delicious singing of the cook”

Why riddles are used to open a poem about work: a riddle describes a person only through what they handle and what they make — a furrow, a wheel, a brick, a spice box. That is precisely the method of the poem you are about to read, which never gives a worker a name, only a craft. By the time you reach the poem you have already been taught to recognise a person by their vocation.

Q2.

II. What is the role and relevance of the people you identified in the riddles. How do they contribute to the society? Discuss with your classmates and teacher.

Answer

All four meet a basic human need — food, storage, shelter and nourishment — and between them they cover almost everything a village or a town cannot do without.

Vocation	Role	Why society cannot manage without it
Farmer	Grows the food and the raw fibre — grain, pulses, cotton, oilseed	Every other trade eats. Nearly half of India’s workforce is engaged in agriculture, and the food of the whole country begins in a furrow
Potter	Makes vessels for carrying, storing and cooking, and the lamps and idols of festivals	Cheap, local, unbreakable-in-price storage; and, as our story argues, a keeper of “the tradition and history of the people”
Mason	Builds houses, schools, wells, bridges and roads	Shelter is the second need after food; the mason’s work outlives him by generations
Cook	Turns raw produce into food people can eat and enjoy	Feeds households, canteens, hospitals and midday-meal kitchens; and carries a region’s cuisine, which is a large part of its culture

Three points worth making in the discussion:

They are interdependent. The cook needs the farmer’s grain and the potter’s vessel; the potter needs the mason for a shed and the farmer for the hay that fires the kiln. No vocation stands alone.
Their value is not the same as their income. Arenla gets “a few rupees” for months of work. Society’s dependence on a job and society’s payment for it are two different things — a good reason for the respect the poem insists on.
Each carries knowledge that is not written down. When the last potter in a village stops, nothing records how that shape was made.

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