2nd PUC English Textbook Answers Springs Chapter 13 Where there is a Wheel

   

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Karnataka 2nd PUC English Textbook Answers Springs Chapter 13 Where there is a Wheel

Where there is a Wheel Questions and Answers, Notes, Summary

Where there is a Wheel Comprehension I

Question 1.
What does cycling as a symbol of social mobility mean?
Answer:
Cycling through the word evokes minute meaning, it is broader when it comes to society. Social mobility has two meanings literally. It moves society from one place to another, which means the transportation of people, and it also connotes the progress of society. When women want to go for a market they do not want to wait for men they could go on themselves.

Question 2.
When Jameela Bibi says, “It is my right. We can go anywhere”, she is
a. asserting her right to move freely.
b. suggesting mobility leading to liberation.
c. expressing her indifference to dirty remarks.
d. boasting about her cycling skill.
Answer:
(a) asserting her right to move freely.

Question 3.
What does bicycle represent for the rural women?
OR
Mention any one of the symbols which bicycling represents for the women.
Answer:
For the rural women bicycle represents ‘freedom’.

Question 4.
What is common between neo-literates and neo-cyclists?
Answer:
Cycling as a social movement was first popularized by the neo-literates. These neo-literates are the ones who became neo-cyclists.

KSEEB Solutions

Question 5.
‘Enforced routine’ and ‘male imposed barrier’ refer to
a. confining women to the kitchen.
b. subjecting women to drudgery.
c. status of women in a patriarchal society.
d. lack of freedom of movement
Answer:
(c) status of women in a patriarchal society.

Question 6.
How did the men react to women taking to cycling?
Answer:
Initially, women had to put up with vicious attacks on their character. Some of the men made filthy remarks. But later, once it got social sanction from the Arivoli organization, some menfolk became less hostile and some of them even encouraged the women to learn cycling.

Question 7.
What do the phrases ‘flags on the handlebar’ and ‘bells ringing’ suggest?
Answer:
The phrases ‘flags on the handlebar’ and ‘bells ringing’ refer to the women’s cycle rally organized on International Women’s Day in 1992 in which 1500 female cyclists took Pudukkottai by storm.

Question 8.
Why did UNICEF sanction mopeds to Arivoli women activists?
Answer:
The UNICEF sanctioned fifty mopeds to Arivoli women activists in appreciation of their work of initiating more than 70000 women to display their cycling skills at the public ‘exhibition-cum-contests’ in a single week in 1992.

Question 9.
Why is the cycle called ‘the humble vehicle’?
Answer:
The word ‘humble’ means ‘poor’, the lowest in rank. The writer calls the cycle a humble vehicle because it is the most common and ubiquitous vehicle seen even in the most remote of places, a common man’s vehicle.

Where there is a Wheel Comprehension II

Question 1.
What is the role of Arivoli Iyakkam in liberating women?
Answer:
In Pudukkottai district there is an organization called Arivoli Iyakkam (Light of Knowledge Movement) which spearheaded the district’s vigorous literacy drive. N. Kannammal is the central coordinator of Arivoli. This literacy organization conducted literacy campaigns among rural women and created a good number of neo-literates. Later, the Arivoli literacy activists, led by N.

Kannammal pioneered the cycling learning movement and thus gave cycling a social sanction. Later, at Kilakuruchi village, the Arivoli activists conducted a cycling training camp for their neo-literates as well as other women enthusiasts. A large number of those who learnt cycling come to train new learners, as master trainers, and this way they helped nearly 70000 rural women to learn cycling. Thus, by teaching them to read and write along with ‘cycling’, the Arivoli organization liberated a vast majority of the rural women in the Pudukkottai District.

KSEEB Solutions

Question 2.
In what different ways has the cycle empowered rural women?
OR
Discuss how the cycling movement has empowered the rural women of Pudukkottai.
Answer:
‘Cycling’ empowers women in many ways. It gives them ‘confidence’ which results from being self-dependent and free to carry out their duties and responsibilities without depending on the menfolk. For example, womenfolk can fetch water from even the remotest source and cart provisions on their own. In this way, cycling emancipates womenfolk psychologically. Cycling also empowers women economically and politically. Cycling boosts their income. Some of the women who sell agricultural or other products within a group of villages can save a great deal of time by going to such places on their bicycles.

Secondly, it gives them much more time to focus on selling their produce. Thirdly, it enlarges the area they can hope to cover. Finally, if they choose to enjoy their leisure, cycling gives them a lot of leisure also. These women, besides performing these jobs, can also perform other chores. Finally, to top it all, it gives them self-respect. They can also participate in political work.

Question 3.
Why does the author describe the Arivoli ‘cycling training camp’s unusual experience?
Answer:
One of the pioneers in encouraging ‘cycling’ and giving it a social sanction was the Arivoli activists. These activists conducted a ‘cycling training camp’ in Kilakuruchi village. The writer, who visited the camp, calls it an unusual experience because, on that Sunday, all the prospective learners had turned out in their Sunday best. The author remarks that one could not help being struck by the sheer passion of the pro-cycling movement. The learners exuded so much enthusiasm and passion for learning cycling.

Question 4.
Do you think neo-literate women taking to cycling contributes to the literacy movement?
Answer:
Yes. Women taking up cycling is as significant as their taking up literacy because cycling gives them mobility, freedom, and independence which together give the women confidence to stand on their own legs. Initially, Sheela Rani Chunkath, a district collector, in 1991 intended to train female literacy activists so as to enable them to spread literacy among women in the interior. Therefore, she included mobility as a part of the literacy drive.

However, cycling played a much more significant role than literacy in the lives of the womenfolk. It gave them confidence, freedom, and independence to eke out an independent existence. Cycling helped them stay attached to their children and family and yet be financially independent. It also helped the women to share family responsibilities with the menfolk.

Question 5.
How does Sheela Rani Chunkath, the district collector, promote the empowerment of women?
OR
Bring out the role of Sheela Rani Chunkath in the empowerment of women in Pudukkottai.
Answer:
In 1991, Sheela Rani Chunkath was the district collector of Pudukkottai. As a part of the female literacy drive, she wanted to train female literacy activists so that literacy would reach women in the interior. She had realized that the lack of mobility among women played a big role in undermining their confidence. Therefore, she included ‘mobility’ as a part of the literacy drive. Naturally, literacy activists learned cycling first. This inspired the neo-literates also to learn cycling. This, in turn, inspired every woman in the village to learn cycling.

The literates, having become neo-cyclists, encouraged every woman in the district to learn cycling, by organizing ‘cycle training camps’. Thus, Sheela Rani Chunkath became instrumental in ‘cycling’ becoming a social movement in the Pudukkottai district. This way Sheela Rani Chunkath should be commended for promoting ‘freedom’ of women by including ‘cycling’ in her literacy project.

Question 6.
How did the women react to the shortage of ladies’ cycle?
Answer:
Once ‘cycling’ as a symbol of women’s liberation caught the imagination of the womenfolk in the Pudukkottai district, every woman in the district volunteered to learn cycling. Not surprisingly, this led to a shortage of ‘ladies’ cycles. These women enthusiasts did not hesitate. They volunteered to buy even ‘gents’ cycles and learned cycling. Later on, many women started preferring the ‘gents’ cycle because it has an additional bar from the seat to the handle and that way it enabled them to go out along with a child also. Even to this day thousands of women in Pudukkottai district ride ‘gents’ cycles. ‘

Where there is a Wheel Comprehension III

Question 1.
How does P. Sainath show that cycling brings about changes beyond economic gains?
Answer:
P. Sainath presents an eye-witness report of ‘cycling’ becoming a social movement. He tells us how tens of thousands of women in the Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu got initiated to learn cycling.

The Arivoli activists led by N. Kannammal pioneered the ‘cycling’ movement. As a part of their vigorous literacy drive, these activists learned cycling. Later, they organized ‘cycling training camps’ for other women. Thus, it got social sanction. Once the movement became a big force, every woman in Pudukkottai volunteered to learn cycling. Towards the end of the article, Sainath says, besides giving women freedom, mobility, and independence, it also has definite economic implications.

It boosts their family income. Sainath reports that a section of the women sells agricultural or other products within a group of villages. For them, cycling cuts down on time wasted in waiting for buses. Secondly, it gives them much more time to focus on selling their produce. Thirdly, it enlarges the area they wish to cover. Lastly, it can increase their leisure time.

In conclusion, he says, cycling brings about changes beyond economic gains also. ‘Cycling’ gives them a sense of self-respect which is vital to their sense of well-being. Thus, Sainath says that this humble vehicle has become a metaphor for freedom for these women.

KSEEB Solutions

Question 2.
‘O sister come learn cycling, move with the wheel of time…’ How does the song suggest that the cycle could be an instrument of social change and progress?
Answer:
In the article titled ‘Where There is a Wheel’, Sainath, the writer, reports an important social movement that took place during 1992-94 that stunned the people of the Pudukkottai district in Tamil Nadu.

There was an organization named ‘Arivoli lyakkam’ which led the female literacy movement in Pudukkottai. These Arivoli activists learned ‘cycling’ so as to enable themselves to spread the message of literacy among rural women in the interior. Once the activists learned cycling, they, in turn, taught their neo-literates cycling. These neo-literates, neo-cyclists trained women in cycling, all over the district. During this period Muthu Bhaskaran, an Arivoli activist, wrote a famous song to encourage rural women to learn cycling. The song is intended to call upon the womenfolk to learn cycling.

The song conveys a simple message and when it is sung in Tamil, the mother tongue of these rural women, its meaning is easily understood. It only calls upon the woman to set in motion her own wheel of life. Until then, the woman could not move out of the house, because her ‘mobility’ depended on her being able to find money to go by bus. Going by bus also depended on the permission of the menfolk. The woman needed the help of her menfolk even to sell the agricultural produce which grew on her land. This way the woman could not break the male-imposed barriers. Once she learned cycling she got the freedom to move to any place she wanted and the freedom to do any work she wished to.

This song invites the woman to learn cycling and set in motion the wheel of her life. Here, the ‘wheel’ refers to ‘progress’. So, it tells the woman to learn cycling and be responsible for her own progress.

Where there is a Wheel Additional Questions and Answers

I. Answer the following questions in a word, a phrase, or a sentence each:

Question 1.
Name the person who wrote the famous cycling song.
OR
Name the Arivoli activist who wrote/penned the famous cycling song.
Answer:
Muthu Bhaskaran.

Question 2.
In which district of Tamil Nadu, according to P. Sainath, has cycling been a social movement?
OR
Where was cycling started as a social movement, according to P. Sainath?
Answer:
Pudukkottai district in Tamil Nadu.

Question 3.
What is Fatima by profession?
Answer:
A secondary school teacher.

Question 4.
What is the literacy movement of Pudukkottai called?
Answer:
Arivoli Iyakkam.

Question 5.
What does Arivoli Iyakkam mean?
Answer:
Light of Knowledge movement.

Question 6.
What is Arivoli Iyakkam mentioned in ‘Where There is a Wheel’?
Answer:
Arivoli Iyakkam, which means, Light of Knowledge movement, is the literacy movement of Pudukkottai.

KSEEB Solutions

Question 7.
Name one of the pioneers of the cycling movement in Pudukkottai.
Answer:
N. Kannammal, the Arivoli central coordinator.

Question 8.
Who is the central coordinator of Arivoli?
OR
Who was the central coordinator of the cycling movement in ‘Where There is a Wheel’?
Answer:
N. Kannammal.

Question 9.
Who was the brain behind the cycling movement?
OR
Who is Sheela Rani Chunkath?
OR
Whose brainchild is the cycling movement, according to P. Sainath?
Answer:
Sheela Rani Chunkath, a former district collector, was the brain behind the cycling movement.

Question 10.
When and why did Sheela Rani start the cycling movement?
Answer:
In 1991, Sheela Rani Chunkath started the cycling movement in the Pudukkottai district with the intention of training female literacy activists so that literacy would reach women in the interior.

Question 11.
What did Sheela Rani add as a part of the literacy drive?
Answer:
Sheela Rani added ‘mobility’ as a part of the literacy drive.

Question 12.
Why did Sheela Rani include mobility as a part of the literacy drive?
Answer:
Since lack of mobility among women played a big role in undermining their confidence, Sheela Rani included mobility as a part of the literacy drive.

Question 13.
In which year and on what occasion was the all-women’s cycle rally held?
Answer:
The all-women’s cycle rally was held on International Women’s Day in 1992.

Question 14.
Who is the owner of Ram Cycles?
Answer:
S. Kannakarajan.

Question 15.
Who was the male Arivoli activist who encouraged the cycling movement?
Answer:
Muthu Bhaskaran was the male Arivoli activist who encouraged the cycling movement.

Question 16.
Who trains women in cycling in Kudimianmalai?
OR
Name the quarry worker and Arivoli volunteer who trains other women.
OR
Name one of the women who has trained young women from their community in the art of cycling.
Answer:
Manormani.

Question 17.
Who is Manormani?
Answer:
A quarry worker and an Arivoli volunteer.

Question 18.
Name the quarry worker and Arivoli volunteer who trains other women to learn cycling.
Answer:
Manormani is the quarry worker and Arivoli volunteer who trains other women to learn cycling.

KSEEB Solutions

Question 19.
Which movement helped the ‘neo-literates’ to become ‘neo-cyclists’?
Answer:
The literacy movement helped the ‘neo-literates’ to become ‘neo-cyclists’.

Question 20.
Name the organization that sanctioned fifty mopeds for Arivoli women activists.
Answer:
The UNICEF sanctioned fifty mopeds for Arivoli women activists.

Question 21.
What is the chosen medium for the rural women ofPudukkottai?
Answer:
Cycling is the chosen medium for the rural women of Pudukkottai.

Question 22.
Why did some women prefer to buy gents’ cycles?
Answer:
Some women preferred to buy gents’ cycles because there was not only a shortage of ladies’ cycles, but they could also seat a child on the additional bar.

Question 23.
Name the male Arivoli activist who wrote the famous cycling song.
Answer:
Muthu Bhaskaran, a male Arivoli activist, wrote the famous cycling song.

Question 24.
What had stunned the inhabitants ofPudukkottai on International Women’s Day?
Answer:
The all-women’s cycle rally in which 1500 female cyclists participated, had stunned the inhabitants of Pudukkottai on International Women’s Day.

Question 25.
Which vehicle is called ‘humble’ in ‘Where There is a Wheel’?
Answer:
The writer calls the bicycle a humble vehicle.

Question 26.
What is meant by ‘neo-cyclists’ mentioned in ‘Where There Is A Wheel’?
Answer:
The term ‘neo-cyclists’ in the lesson ‘Where There is a Wheel’, refers to all those rural women in the Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu, who have taken to bicycling as a symbol of independence, freedom, and mobility.

Question 27.
Name one of the three women who trained other women in cycling in ‘Where There Is A Wheel’.
Answer:
Jameela is one of the three women who trained other women in cycling, in the lesson ‘Where There is a Wheel’.

Question 28.
Who has benefited the most by cycling, according to P. Sainath?
Answer:
According to P. Sainath, the neo-literate rural women in the Pudukkottai district have been benefited the most by cycling.

KSEEB Solutions

Question 29.
Who took to ‘cycling’ as a social movement in ‘Where There Is A Wheel’?
Answer:
As stated in ‘Where There is a Wheel’, tens and thousands of neo-literate rural women in the Pudukkottai district took to ‘cycling’ as a social movement.

Question 30.
What, according to the speaker, has brought a change in the lifestyle of the women of Pudukkottai?
Answer:
According to the speaker, learning to ride a bicycle has brought a change in the lifestyle of the women of Pudukkottai.

Question 31.
In which official position was Sheela Rani Chunkath, according to P. Sainath?
Answer:
According to Sainath, Sheela Chunkath was then the district collector.

Question 32.
Who was S. Kanakarajan mentioned in ‘Where There Is A Wheel’?
Answer:
As mentioned in ‘Where There is a Wheel’, S. Kanakarajan was the owner of Ram Cycles, a shop in Pudukkottai which sold bicycles.

Question 33.
Mention one of the reasons for women buying gents’ cycles, according to P. Sainath.
Answer:
According to P. Sainath, a shortage of ‘ladies’ cycles was one of the reasons for women buying ‘Gents’ cycles.

Question 34.
What led to a shortage of ladies’ cycles in Pudukkottai, according to P. Sainath?
Answer:
According to P. Sainath, ‘cycling’ became a social movement for the rural women in Pudukkottai district. The district’s literacy activists learned cycling. Then, every one of the neo-literates became a neo-cyclist. This encouraged ‘everywoman’ in the district to learn cycling. Consequently, all the ‘ladies’ cycles stocked in the market got sold resulting in a shortage of ‘ladies’ cycles.

Question 35.
Where did the rural women display their new cycling skills, according to P. Sainath?
Answer:
According to P. Sainath, the rural women displayed their new cycling skills in an all women’s cycle rally held in Pudukkottai on International Women’s Day in 1992.

Question 36.
What did banks provide the women of Pudukkottai with, according to P. Sainath?
Answer:
According to P. Sainath, banks provided loans to the women of Pudukkottai for buying bicycles.

Question 37.
What, according to P. Sainath, played a big role in undermining women’s confidence?
Answer:
According to P. Sainath, lack of mobility among women played a big role in undermining their confidence.

Question 38.
Who gave social sanction to cycling in ‘Where there is a Wheel’?
Answer:
According to P. Sainath, it was the Arivoli that gave social sanction to cycling.

II. Answer the following questions in a paragraph of 80 – 100 words each:

Question 1.
Bring out the nature of freedom gained in Pudukkottai with the introduction of the cycle.
Answer:
The introduction of cycling has brought freedom, mobility, and independence to more than 100000 rural women in the Pudukkottai district. There were quite a few rural women who used to go by bus to sell their agricultural products within a group of villages. Now, these women have learnt cycling can go to such places on cycle, and cut down on time, and also cover a larger area.

KSEEB Solutions

Secondly, these women needed the help of menfolk to reach even the bus stop. Moreover, they had to rush back early to tend to the children and perform other chores like fetching water. With the introduction of cycling, they have become mobile and independent. They have a lot of freedom to plan they’re occupational as well as their domestic duties and enjoy leisure too.

Question 2.
How has the cycle transformed the lives of many women in Pudukkottai?
OR
Comment on how cycling reduced women’s dependence on men with reference to Sainath’s essay.
OR
What benefits, according to P. Sainath, has cycling brought into the lives of rural women?
OR
How has a bicycle brought a total change in the lives of rural women?
OR
How did cycling transform the lives of women in the Pudukkottai district and help them change with the times?
Answer:
The introduction of cycling in the Pudukkottai district has brought about a tremendous change in the lives of rural women. Cycling has offered a way out of enforced routines around male- imposed barriers. The rural women, in particular, have gained a great deal of confidence on account of their learning cycling. Earlier, they used to be burdened with economic as well as social or familial obligations. Many young mothers had to help the menfolk in earning the family income as well as do domestic chores like tending to children and fetching water from remote places. Even to sell their agricultural produce in nearby villages, they had to carry their produce to the bus stop with the help of their menfolk.

Secondly, they had to come back within a fixed time to tend to little kids at home and to store or fetch water from remote places. Naturally, though they were capable of doing all these duties on their own, their ‘immobility’ created a big hurdle. They had to walk long distances to fetch water and sell their produce. After learning cycling, such women became free and independent. This gave them a lot of confidence. Moreover, the ability to ride a bicycle gave them a lot of self-respect.

Question 3.
Why does P. Sainath say that visiting an Arivoli cycling training camp is an unusual experience?
Answer:
Sainath, the writer, says that visiting an Arivoli ‘cycling training camp’ is an unusual experience because one day when he went to Kilakuruchi village to see the camp he was amazed to see all the prospective learners turned out in their Sunday best. The writer tells us that one cannot help being struck by the sheer passion of the pro-cycling movement. There was a look of determination on their faces.

Question 4.
What role did Sheela Rani play in the cycling movement?
OR
How did Sheela Rani promote the cycling movement?
Answer:
Sheela Rani Chunkath was the district collector of Pudukkottai. In 1991 as a part of the female literacy drive, she wanted to train female literacy activists so that literacy would reach women in the interior. She had realized that the lack of mobility among women played a big role in undermining their confidence. Therefore, she included ‘mobility’ as a part of the literacy drive.

KSEEB Solutions

Naturally, literacy activists learned cycling first. This inspired the neo-literates also to learn cycling. This, in turn, inspired every woman in the village to learn cycling. The literates, having become neo-cyclists, encouraged every woman in the district to learn cycling, by organizing ‘cycle training camps’. Thus, Sheela Rani Chunkath became instrumental in ‘cycling’ becoming a social movement in the Pudukkottai district.

Question 5.
How does the author show that cycling is linked to the literacy movement in the district?
OR
How did Sheela Rani Chunkath empower the women of Pudukkottai by including cycling in the literacy drive?
Answer:
Sheela Rani Chunkath was the district collector of Pudukkottai in 1991. As a part of the female literacy drive, she wanted to train female literacy activists so that literacy would reach women in the interior. She had realized that the lack of mobility among women played a big role in undermining their confidence. Therefore, she included ‘mobility’ as a part of the literacy drive.

Naturally, literacy activists learned cycling first. This inspired the neo-literates also to learn cycling. This, in turn, inspired every woman in the village to learn cycling. The literates, having become neo-cyclists, encouraged every woman in the district to learn cycling by organizing ‘cycle training camps’. Thus, cycling came to be linked to the literacy movement in Pudukkottai.

Question 6.
What are the economic implications of cycling?
OR
Discuss how cycling has had definite economic implications on women’s status.
Answer:
Cycling brought many benefits to rural women in Pudukkottai. Besides instilling a lot of confidence in rural women, it also helped them economically. A large section of the rural womenfolk were small producers who used to wait for buses to carry their produce to sell in other villages.

Even to carry their produce to the bus stop they had to depend on fathers, brothers, husbands or sons.
Once these women learned cycling, they became mobile and independent. Learning cycling enabled them to visit a number of villages and sell their produce. Secondly, after learning cycling they were able to combine different tasks with nonchalance. Consequently, one can see many a young mother riding a cycle with a child on the bar and the produce on the carrier. She could also be seen carrying two or three pots of water hung across the back and cycling towards work or home.

Question 7.
How has cycling swept across the district of Pudukkottai?
Answer:
It is not an exaggeration to say that cycling has swept across the district of Pudukkottai. It is not surprising to see even rural agricultural workers riding a bicycle carrying water, their products, and also their children on the bicycle. In fact, cycle-riding women have become ubiquitous in the Pudukkottai district.

Apart from women agricultural workers, quarry labourers, and village health nurses have also taken to cycling. Joining the rush are balwadi and Anganwadi workers, gem cutters and school teachers, and also grama services and mid-day meal workers as well.

Ques 8.
Why was there a shortage of ladies’ cycles in the district of Pudukkottai? How was the problem overcome?
OR
How did the women react to the shortage of ladies’ cycles?
OR
Why was there a shortage of ladies’ cycles in Pudukkottai? How did the women react to it?
Answer:
Once the idea of learning cycling as a sign of women’s emancipation caught on among the womenfolk of Pudukkottai, there was a huge demand for ‘ladies’ cycles. Once the stocks of ladies cycles got exhausted there was a shortage of ‘ladies’ cycles. Consequently, women did not hesitate to buy ‘gents’ cycles as well. In fact, some women even preferred ‘gents’ cycles because the gent’s cycles have an additional bar from the seat to the handle. That way the women realized that they could seat a child on the bar. Consequently, the shortage of ladies cycles was solved by going in for gents cycles.

Question 9.
How has cycling inculcated a sense of self-respect in the women of Pudukkottai?
Answer:
The writer says that it would be very wrong to emphasize only the economic aspect of learning cycling. He says that learning cycling brings a sense of self-respect to the individual. He quotes the opinion of Fatima, a secondary school teacher. She opines that learning cycling is not economic in her case at all. She cannot afford a bicycle, yet she hires one every evening just to feel the goodness, that independence. What she means to say is, when a woman learns to ride a bicycle, she enjoys a sense of achievement.

Women do not need to depend on their husbands to help them physically in carrying their produce to the market. Secondly, nothing can bind them to their homes. They go out, fetch water and provisions, and come back home to attend to their domestic duties and responsibilities at the right time. This way they enjoy a lot of freedom. It is this feeling that gives women a sense of self-respect.

III. Answer the following questions in about 200 words each:

Question 1.
How has cycling become a metaphor for freedom in Pudukkottai?
OR
How does the speaker highlight the freedom and empowerment accomplished due to cycling?
OR
In what different ways does the bicycle help rural women in ‘Where There Is A Wheel’?
Answer:
The idea of empowering women giving them ‘mobility’ came from Sheela Rani Chunkath, the District Collector of Pudukkottai in 1991. She included ‘mobility’ as a part of the literacy drive so as to facilitate female literacy activists to reach rural women in the interior. Once the literacy activists learned cycling, they taught the neo-literates cycling. Once the neo-literates learned cycling, every other woman in the district volunteered to learn cycling. Later, the Arivoli activists organized a ‘Cycling Training Camp’ and created ‘Master trainers’ who in turn conducted several cycling training camps. This way, in a short period of time, over 100,000 rural women in the Pudukkottai district learned cycling.

The author opines that ‘cycling’ gave these women freedom, mobility, and independence. Consequently, these women stopped depending on the menfolk to transport their agricultural produce to bus stops. They themselves carried the produce and sold them in the neighbouring villages and this way covered a larger area. Secondly, they also took care of the young ones at home and completed household chores in time as a result of the proper utilization of time. They could also fetch water from far off places and cart provisions on their bicycle. Thus, ‘cycling’ empowered rural women in many ways. Furthermore, the ability to carry on all the duties and responsibilities on their own gave the women a sense of achievement and self-respect. Thus, the author who witnessed this silent revolution concludes that the humble vehicle – the bicycle – has become a metaphor for freedom, in Pudukkottai.

KSEEB Solutions

Question 2.
How does the essay ‘Where There is a Wheel’speak about women and empowerment?
OR
How is ‘wheel’ symbolic of a change in ‘Where there is a wheel’?
OR
A humble vehicle can be a tool for women’s empowerment. Discuss.
OR
A humble vehicle can work wonders in empowering rural women. Explain with reference to ‘Where There Is A Wheel’.
Answer:
In this essay titled ‘Where There is a Wheel’, Sainath reports how learning to ride a bicycle became a social movement and eventually became a symbol of women empowerment in the Pudukkottai district of Tamilnadu. Here, the ‘wheel’ of the cycle has become a symbol for the empowerment of women. The introduction of cycling has brought about tremendous change in the lives of rural women. Cycling has offered a way out of enforced routines around male-imposed barriers.

The rural women, in particular, have gained a great deal of confidence on account of their learning cycling. Earlier, they used to be burdened with economic as well as social or familial obligations. Many young mothers had to help the menfolk in earning the family income as well as do domestic chores like tending to children and fetching water from remote places. Even to sell their agricultural produce in nearby villages, they had to carry their produce to the bus stop with the help of their menfolk.

Secondly, they had to come back within a fixed time to tend to little kids at home and to store or fetch water from remote places. Naturally, though they were capable of doing all these duties on their own, their ‘immobility’ created a big hurdle. They had to walk long distances to fetch water and sell their produce. After learning cycling, such women became free and independent. This gave them a lot of confidence. Moreover, the ability to ride a bicycle gave them a lot of self-respect.

Apart from women agricultural workers, quarry labourers, and village health nurses have also taken to cycling. Joining the rush are balwadi and Anganwadi workers, gem cutters, school teachers, grama services, and mid-day meal workers as well.

It would be very wrong to emphasize only the economic aspect of learning cycling. Learning cycling brings a sense of self-respect to the individual. The writer quotes the opinion of Fatima, a secondary school teacher. She opines that learning cycling is not economic in her case at all. She cannot afford a bicycle, yet she hires one every evening just to feel the goodness, that independence. What she means to say is, when a woman learns to ride a bicycle, she enjoys a sense of achievement. She feels that she does not need to depend on her husband to help her physically in carrying her produce to the market.

Secondly, nothing can bind her to her home. She becomes mobile. She goes out, fetches water and provisions, and comes back home to attend to her domestic duties and responsibilities at the right time. This way she enjoys a lot of freedom. It is this feeling that gives a woman a sense of self-respect.

Question 3.
Justify the statement ‘Wheel brings progress’ with reference to ‘Where There is a Wheel’.
Answer:
In ‘Where there is a Wheel’, P. Sainath, the writer, refers to the ‘wheel’ of the bicycle to document the spectacular progress achieved by rural women in the Pudukkottai district of Tamilnadu. The title symbolically conveys the ‘progress’ achieved by rural women over a period of one and a half years. ‘Wheel’ is a commonly accepted symbol for progress or movement or mobility. ‘Wheel’ also means continuous progress or movement. While stagnation indicates decay and deterioration, mobility indicates dynamism.

The writer remarks that “people find curious ways of hitting out at their backwardness, of expressing defiance, a hammering at the fetters that hold them”. All these phrases make a reference to how the rural women of Pudukkottai district defied the challenge of the male bastion and broke the fetters that chained them to the confines of their homes by learning to ride a bicycle. These rural women, which included agricultural workers, quarry labourers, village health nurses, ballad is and anganwadis, gem cutters, school teachers, mid-day meal workers, and gram sevikas, had to depend on the male persons at-home – brother, husband, father – to go to the market to sell their produce and to go to their workplaces in addition to doing household chores like carrying water from the village well, cooking, taking care of infants and washing clothes and utensils.

Today, women can be seen doing many tasks on their bicycles. They can be seen carrying water from the well along with their small kids sitting on the bar of their cycle in the front. Many of them bicycle their way to villages to sell agricultural products or to work in the quarries.

Question 4.
People find curious ways of hitting out at their backwardness. How is this brought out in ‘Where There Is A Wheel’?
Answer:
P. Sainath, in his essay ‘Where There is a Wheel’, remarks that “people find curious ways of hitting out at their backwardness, of expressing defiance, a hammering at the fetters that hold them”. All these phrases make a reference to how the rural women of Pudukkottai district defied the challenge of the male bastion and broke the fetters that chained them to the confines of their homes by learning to ride a bicycle.

KSEEB Solutions

Sheela Rani Chunkath was the district collector of Pudukkottai. In 1991 as a part of the female literacy drive, she wanted to train female literacy activists so that literacy would reach women in the interior. She had realized that the lack of mobility among women played a big role in undermining their confidence. Therefore, she included ‘mobility’ as a part of the literacy drive. Naturally, literacy activists learned cycling first. This inspired the neo-literates also to learn cycling. This, in turn, inspired every woman in the village to learn cycling. The literates, having become neo-cyclists, encouraged every woman in the district to learn cycling, by organizing ‘cycle training camps’. Thus, Sheela Rani Chunkath became instrumental in ‘cycling’ becoming a social movement in the Pudukkottai district.

Cycling brought many benefits to rural women in Pudukkottai. Besides instilling a lot of confidence in rural women, it also helped them economically. A large section of the rural womenfolk were small producers who used to wait for buses to carry their produce to sell in other villages. Even to carry their produce to the bus stop they had to depend on fathers, brothers, husbands, or sons. Once these women learned cycling, they became mobile and independent. Learning cycling enabled them to visit the number of villages and sell their produce. Secondly, after learning cycling they were able to combine different tasks with nonchalance.

Consequently, one can see many a young mother riding a cycle with a child on the bar and the produce on the carrier. She could also be seen carrying two or three pots of water hung across the back and cycling towards work or home. Besides helping the women economically, cycling brought a sense of self-respect to them. He quotes the opinion of Fatima, a secondary school teacher.

She opines that learning cycling is not economic in her case at all. She cannot afford a bicycle, yet she hires one every evening just to feel the goodness, that independence. What she means to say is, when a woman learns to ride a bicycle, she enjoys a sense of achievement. Women do not need to depend on their husbands to help them physically in carrying their produce to the market. Secondly, nothing can bind them to their homes. They go out, fetch water and provisions, and come back home to attend to their domestic duties and responsibilities at the right time. This way they enjoy a lot of freedom. It is this feeling that gives women a sense of self-respect.

Where there is a Wheel Vocabulary

A. Idioms and Phrases:

An idiom is the special use of language. Idioms do not give the literal meaning of the individual words used in the idiom.
E.g. ‘a change of heart’ would literally mean a heart transplant. However, idiomatically it would mean ‘a change in one’s attitude or feelings’.
i. Look at the following pairs of idiomatic expressions. The meanings of the first pair are given in brackets. Find out the missing ones.

Question 1.
a. to the day (exactly)
b. to this day (even now)

Question 2.
a. take by storm (capture by the sudden or violent attack)
b. the calm before the storm ( ______)
Answer:
A quiet period immediately before a period of great activity or trouble.

Question 3.
a. for all one knows (considering how little one knows)
b. before one knows where one is ( _______ )
Answer:
(or before one knows it) with baffling speed.

Question 4.
a. at/behind the wheel (in control of the situation)
b. put a spoke in somebody’s wheel ( _______ )
Answer:
spoil someone else’s plans and stop them from doing something

Question 5.
a. turn out in one’s best (be well-dressed)
b. as things turned out ( _______ )
Answer:
how something develops/ends.

ii. Identify the sentences in which these expressions have been used in this lesson.

  1. And to this day, thousands of women here ride ‘gents’ cycles.
  2. Flags on the handlebars, bells ringing, over 1,500 female cyclists took Pudukkottai by storm.
  3. For all he knew, I was an undercover agent of the sales tax department.
  4. (Note: This usage is not found in the lesson.)
  5. In Kilakuruchi village all the prospective learners had turned out in their Sunday best.

B. Phrasal verbs are expressions which have a combination of a verb and a preposition.

Some of the phrasal verbs used in this article are given below. With the help of the teacher/ dictionary find out their meanings and use them in sentences of your own.
Take to, give up, run into, hit out at, sweep across, put up with.

  • Take to: to start doing something as a habit
  • give up: stop doing something
  • run into: to meet someone when you did not expect to
  • hit out at: to fight something vigorously
  • sweep across: to extend or spread in a wide range
  • put up with: to accept unpleasant behaviour by someone or an annoying situation without complaining, even though you do not like it.

Additional Exercises

A. Passive Voice:

Question 1.
The rural women of Pudukkottai found a way of hitting out at their backwardness. Cycling ____ (choose) as a medium in doing so. Cycling ______ (learn) by over one-fourth of all rural women. The new skill _______ (display) by over 70,000 of these women.
Answer:
was chosen; was learnt; was displayed.

KSEEB Solutions

Question 2.
Arivoli played an important role in the cycling movement. A number of training camps _____ (arrange) by Arivoli. In order to encourage bicycling, songs _____ (sing) by neo-cyclists. The UNICEF ______ (impress) and sanctioned fifty mopeds for Arivoli women activists.
Answer:
were arranged; were sung; was impressed.

Question 3.
Cycling gained momentum gradually. Though dirty remarks _____ (make), women paid no attention. Scores of young women _____ (train) by Jameela and her friends. A direct link ______ (see) by a neo-cyclist woman between cycling and her personal independence.
Answer:
were made; were trained; was seen.

Question 4.
Now we often see a woman doing a four-kilometre stretch on her bicycle to collect water. Even carting provisions from other places ____ (do) on their own. But, when this began, filthy remarks ______ (make). Even then social sanction ______(give) to cycling by Arivoli.
Answer:
was done; were made; was given.

Question 5.
Gents’ cycles have certain advantages. These ______ (prefer) by some women as these have an additional bar from the seat to the handle. A child _____ (can, seat) on it. Carting provisions _____ (can, do) on their own.
Answer:
are preferred; can be seated; can be done.

Question 6.
It was the occasion of International Women’s Day in 1992. Pudukkottai _____ (take) by storm. The town’s inhabitants _____ (stun) by the all-women’s cycle rally. However, it ______ (approve) by all males.
Answer:
was taken; were stunned; was approved.

Question 7.
In no time cycling became a way of life in Pudukkottai. It _____ (introduce) as a tool of social change. Mobility, facilitated by cycling _____ (include) as a part of literacy drive. The idea ______ (propose) by Sheela Rani Chunkath, the district collector.
Answer:
was introduced; was included; was proposed.

Question 8.
Cycling brought a mighty change in the life of women in Pudukkottai. They started moving on their own. Dependence on men _____ (reduce) to some extent. Provisions too _____ (cart) from one place to another and a four-kilometre stretch ____ (cover) on their cycles to fetch water.
Answer:
was reduced; were carted; was covered.

KSEEB Solutions

Question 9.
The District Collector’s main aim was to make literacy reach the interior. So mobility _____ (include) as a part of literacy drive. Loans _____ (provide) by banks for women to buy cycles. Specific duties ______ (allot) to each block to promote this drive.
Answer:
was included; were provided; were allotted.

B. Fill in the blanks by choosing the appropriate expressions given in brackets:

Question 1.
Sheela Rani Chunkath included mobility ______ the literacy drive. People made dirty remarks but the neo-cyclists _____ to these remarks. (turned a deaf ear, to come off, as a part of)
Answer:
as a part of; turned a deaf ear.

Question 2.
A lot of women were unable to wait for ladies’ cycles. Therefore they had to _____ men’s cycles. They knew that bicycles would ______ time wasted in waiting for buses. (cut down on, put up with, go in for)
Answer:
go in for; cut down on.

Question 3.
Cycling has _____ Pudukkottai. It has become a movement. It was the ______ of Sheela Rani Chunkath who was the former District Collector. (brainchild, swept across, go out)
Answer:
swept across; brainchild.

Question 4.
In the heart of rural Pudukkottai, young women _____ the roads on their bicycles. Jameela Bibi, who has ______ cycling, told the reporter that it was her right. (taken to, give up, zip along)
Answer:
zip along; taken to.

Question 5.
In Kilakuruchi village all the prospective learners had in ______ their Sunday best. You can’t help ____ the sheer passion of the pro-cycling movement. (a way out, being struck by, turned out)
Answer:
turned out; being struck by.

C. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate linkers:

Question 1.
Cycling made women independent _______ it reduced their dependence on men. _____ it gave them a sense of freedom. _____ they had to put up with vicious attacks on their character. _____ all women in Pudukkottai learnt cycling. (moreover, as, even then, but)
Answer:
as; Moreover; But; Even then.

Question 2.
Cycling has had very definite economic implications. It boosts their income. ______ for sellers it cuts down on time wasted in waiting for buses. ______ it gives them much more time to focus on selling their produce. _______ it enlarges the area they hope to cover. _____ it increases their leisure time, too. (thus, first, furthermore, on top of that)
Answer:
First; Furthermore; On top of that; Thus.

Where there is a Wheel by P. Sainath About the Writer:

Palagummi Sainath (born 1957) is an Indian journalist and photojournalist focusing on social problems, rural affairs, poverty and aftermath of globalization in India. He is the Rural Affairs Editor of The Hindu. A regular contributor to The Telegraph in Kolkata, he also writes for the fortnightly Frontline and the daily Business Line in Chennai.

Sainath has received close to forty national and international journalism awards and fellowships in thirty years as a journalist, including the Ramon Magsaysay journalism award in 2007, the European Commission’s Natali Prize in 1994, the Boerma journalism Prize from the UN FAO in 2001, the Amnesty International global award for human rights journalism in 2000, and the B.D. Goenka Award for excellence in journalism in 2000. In June 2011, Sainath was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree (DLitt) by the University of Alberta, the university’s highest honour.

Where there is a Wheel Summary in English

This lesson is an article taken from a book titled ‘Everybody Loves a Good Drought’, by P. Sainath, a popular photo-journalist. Besides giving a brief history of ‘cycling’ as a social movement in Pudukkottai, he also reports how a group of women initiated the remaining women in the village to learn ‘cycling’ so as to use it as a symbol of independence, freedom and mobility. Finally, he also comments on the general impact of this on women’s lives in the Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu.

The author begins the article commenting that when people hear the caption, “Cycling as a social movement”, it may sound far-fetched to them, but it is true. Then the author remarks that “people find curious ways of hitting out at their backwardness, of expressing defiance, a hammering at the fetters that hold them”.

The author then quotes statistics to prove his point. He reports that over the past eighteen months, 100000 rural women have taken to bicycling as a symbol of independence, freedom and mobility, and their number constitutes over one-fourth of all rural Women in Pudukkottai. Among them over 70000 of them have taken part in public exhibition-cum-contests to proudly display their skills, yet the desire to learn ‘cycling’ and the ‘training camps’ continue.

2nd PUC English Textbook Answers Springs Chapter 13 Where there is a Wheel image - 1

The author then tells us how two of the participants Jameela Bibi, and Fatima, a secondary school teacher, feel about their achievement in cycling. The author quotes Jameela Bibi, who says, “It’s my right, we can go anywhere. Now I don’t have to wait for a bus”. Similarly, he quotes Fatima also. Fatima says, “There is freedom in cycling. We are not dependent on anyone now. I can never give this up!” Jameela, Fatima and their friend Avakanni, all in their early twenties, have trained scores of other young women in the art of cycling.

The author remarks that “Cycling has swept across this district; women agricultural workers, quarry labourers and village health nurses are among its fans. They are now being followed by balwadi and Anganwadi workers, gem cutters, school teachers, gramasevikas and mid-day meal workers. The vast majority are those who have just become literate”. The district’s vigorous literacy drive led by Arivoli Iyakkam (Light of Knowledge Movement) has been quick to tap this energy. The author has spoken to every one of these ‘neo-literate’, ‘neo-cyclist’ women and asserts that there is a direct link between cycling and the neo-cyclists’ personal independence.

Then he reports the opinion of the coordinator who says that the “cycling training has given confidence to women and it has reduced their dependence on men”.

The author says that he often sees a woman doing a four-kilometre stretch on her bicycle to collect water, sometimes with her children. He opines that women can cart provisions from other places on their own. Initially, these women had to put up with vicious attacks on their character. Even filthy remarks used to be made by men. He praises the ‘Arivoli’ organisation for volunteering to give social sanction to cycling.

KSEEB Solutions

Next, he mentions the ‘Cycle Training Camp’ that he had seen in Kilakuruchi village. He says that it was an unusual experience to see all the prospective learners who had turned out in their Sunday best. They appeared to be determined to learn cycling. The Arivoli activists produced songs for the neo-cyclists to encourage bicycling. The author quotes a line which says, “O sisters, come learn cycling, move with the wheel of time”.

Then, we learn that those who got trained in cycling came back in large numbers to help new learners. They worked free of charge for Arivoli as ‘master trainers’. Then, he comments that there is not only a desire to learn but a widespread perception among them that ‘all women ought to learn cycling’.

In the next part of the report, the writer gives a brief historical background to cycling as a social movement. He reports that in 1991 a former district collector by name Sheela Rani Chunkath hit on the idea of training female literacy activists so as to reach women in interior villages. She also included ‘mobility’ (for women) as a part of the literacy drive, because lack of mobility among women played a big role in weakening the confidence of women. It is reported that Chunkath paid personal attention to this idea and motivated the banks to give loans to women to buy cycles. Each block was assigned specific duties in promoting the drive. The district collector met with great success in her plan. Due to the initiative taken by her, the literacy activists learned cycling.

This encouraged the neo-literates, and their example was followed by every woman in the village to learn cycling. This led to a shortage of ‘ladies’ cycles. Then the women started using ‘gents’ cycles. In fact, some women even preferred ‘gents’ cycles because it has an additional bar from the seat to the handle. The author then says, even to this day thousands of women here ride ‘gents’ cycles.

On the International Women’s Day in 1992, over 1500 female cyclists with flags on the handlebars, bells ringing, took Pudukkottai by storm. The towns’ inhabitants were stunned by this all women’s cycle rally.

The writer describes the reactions of the men to this social movement. The author gives the opinion of S. Kanakarajan, owner of Ram Cycles. The cycle dealer says that he had seen a rise of over 350 per cent in the sales of ‘ladies’ cycles in one year. But the author believes that the percentage of increase mentioned by the cycle agent is incorrect because a lot of women have gone in for ‘gents’ cycles as they could not wait for ‘ladies’ cycles. Then the writer remarks that not all males were hostile and some men were even encouraging in their attitude. For instance, Muthu Bhaskaran, a male Arivoli activist, wrote the famous cycling song that has become their anthem.

The writer cites the example of Manormani to illustrate how learning to ride a bicycle can help stone quarry workers also. The twenty-two-year-old Manormani is a stone quarry worker and Arivoli volunteer. She works in Kudimianmalai’s stone quarries. According to her, it is vital for her co-workers to learn cycling because their working places are a little cut off from the main road. Those who learn cycling can be mobile (which means they can go home after work and come back the next day, otherwise, they will have to stay there alone in a new place facing a lot of problems or travel by bus every day). The writer says that in 1992, more than 70000 women displayed their cycling skills at the public ‘exhibition-cum-contests’ run by Arivoli. The UNICEF, who were impressed with the achievement of these activists, sanctioned fifty mopeds for Arivoli women activists.

The writer gives his views about cycling as a social movement. He says that cycling boosts income. Some of the women sell agricultural or other produce within a group of villages. For such people, cycling saves time. Secondly, cycling gives you more time to focus on selling your produce. Thirdly, it helps you to cover a larger area. Lastly, it can increase your leisure time too. Earlier, small producers had to carry their produce only by bus and had to depend on fathers, brothers, husbands, or sons even to reach the bus stop. They could cover only a limited number of villages to sell their produce as they had to do so on foot.

Moreover, these women had to rush back early to tend to the children and perform other chores like fetching water. Those who had bicycles now combined these difficult tasks without any anxiety or tension. Even now one can see along some remote road, a young mother, with a child on the cycle bar and, produce on the carrier. She could also be seen carrying two or even three pots of water hung across the back, and cycling towards work or home.

Finally, the author opines that for these neo-literate/neo-cyclist women, more than the economic aspect, the sense of self-respect it brings is vital. The author admits in a confessing tone that never before had he seen that humble vehicle (cycle) in that light – the bicycle as a metaphor for freedom. Before concluding, the writer quotes Kannammal who opines that for rural women it is a Himalayan achievement like flying an aeroplane.

KSEEB Solutions

In the last paragraph, the author adds a postscript. He says that in April 1995, when the author returned to Pudukkottai, the craze for learning cycling was still on (three years later). Then he adds that a large number of women were unable to afford bicycles which then cost around Rs. 1400 each. He concludes saying that Pudukkottai remains unique among Indian districts for the stunning proportion of women who have taken to cycling and the enthusiasm for gaining the skill among the rest.

Where there is a Wheel Summary in Kannada

2nd PUC English Textbook Answers Springs Chapter 13 Where there is a Wheel image - 2
2nd PUC English Textbook Answers Springs Chapter 13 Where there is a Wheel image - 2
2nd PUC English Textbook Answers Springs Chapter 13 Where there is a Wheel image - 4

Glossary:

  • neo-literates: new literates
  • gramsevikas: women social workers in villages
  • phenomenon: a fact or an event in nature or society
  • brainchild: an idea or invention of one person
  • non-chalance: indifference; unmoved
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