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The young man flung the hammer and the chisel to the ground and cried, “I’m leaving Father. I’m leaving you and this work. Look what it’s brought us!”
He spread out his arms and glanced indifferently at the small, congested work room. The white washed walls were stained by many monsoons. The window, bare of curtains, opened into a tiny backyard.
“After all these years of work, this is all we have – nothing, nothing. This kind of work just doesn’t pay!”
The old man stared at his son in surprise. Although his voice trembled, it didn’t lose its usual gentleness. “It’s not only the money that matters, son. It’s the service, our service to God.”
“Father,” the young man grunted impatiently, “times have changed. The stone carver’s work has changed too. You can’t live on sculptures for temples only. You have to mass produce, mass produce like all the others in Agra. Come on, Father! Wake up.”
The lines around the man’s mouth tightened. “No, my son. This is the work I learnt from my father. And he learned from his father. We have kept up this tradition for hundreds of years... and I hoped you would continue our work.”
“No, Father” the young man replied with determination. "I’m tired of working for a pittance for the committee of the temple in Srinagar. I’m leaving, Father.”
Explanation:
Once there was a young man who was from a family of sculptors, one day he threw his hammer and chisel to the ground. He told his father that he was leaving the work he was doing and also his father. He looked around his workshop, which was very small and congested. The walls were whitewashed many years ago. There was a small window in the room which opened into the backyard and it could be seen clearly as there were no curtains.
Hammer and Chisel.
He showed to his father and said after all these years of hard work they were left with nothing. So, the kind of work was not yielding much money. The old man was amazed at his reactions. His voice was shaking, but it did not lose its politeness. The old man said that it was not for money but for the service of God they are doing that work.
*Old man making sculptures.
The young man got impatient and retracted to his father saying, that times have changed and that they cannot live on sculptures for temples only. They have to produce more like many people produce in Agra, a city in Uttar Pradesh, India. They have to keep pace with those latest techniques.
The old man told his son that that was the work he learnt from his father and in turn, he learned from his father. This had been the tradition for almost a hundred years and he hoped that his son would continue the same.
The young man replied that he was tired of that work wherein he was getting a meagre pay for the work from the temple committee in Srinagar. He was leaving.
Meanings of difficult words:
Numbers | Word | Meanings |
1 | Chisel | A long-bladed hand tool with a sloped cutting edge |
2 | Grunted | Make a short harsh sound |
3 | Pittance | A very small or inadequate amount of money |
Reference:
State Council of Educational Research and Training (2019). Term-2 English Standard-7. The Last Stone Carver-Sigrun Srivastav (pp. 109-116). Published by the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation.
*Image courtesy: CRS PHOTO / Shutterstock.com
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