Chapter 9 — Vocation

Chapter 9 of the Class 5 English NCERT textbook (Santoor), "Vocation", is a poem by Rabindranath Tagore in which a school-going child envies the apparent freedom of a hawker, a gardener, and a watchman — download the PDF and read a summary of this thoughtful poem about work, childhood longing, and the dignity of everyday occupations.

• A Child's Longing for Freedom — The speaker is a child who, while walking to and from school, notices workers who seem free from rules, schedules, and supervision. Each stanza expresses the child's wish to trade the constraints of school life for what looks like an unbound working life.
• Three Vocations: Hawker, Gardener, Watchman — In three stanzas set at morning, afternoon, and evening respectively, the child admires a bangles hawker who roams freely, a gardener who digs as he pleases without being reprimanded, and a watchman who walks the dark lane all night with his lantern — never going to bed.
• Seeing Only the Joyful Side of Work — The child notices only the appealing aspects of each job — the hawker's freedom of movement, the gardener's cheerful dirtying of clothes, the watchman's night-time adventure. The textbook's writing activity asks students to think about what difficult or boring parts the child might be missing.
• Word Study and Grammar — The chapter introduces vocabulary including 'gong', 'lane', 'spade', 'giant', and 'lantern', with a matching exercise. A grammar activity asks students to spot and correct errors in sentences, covering subject-verb agreement, comparatives, and verb forms.

1. 01The poem 'Vocation' is written by Rabindranath Tagore and appears in Unit 5: Work is Worship.
2. 02The poem has three stanzas, each set at a different time of day: morning (hawker), afternoon (gardener), and evening/night (watchman).
3. 03The child hears the hawker at 10 in the morning crying 'Bangles, crystal bangles!' and envies his freedom to roam without a fixed road or schedule.
4. 04Returning from school at 4 in the afternoon, the child watches the gardener digging, getting dusty and wet with no one to stop or scold him.
5. 05At night, the child sees the watchman through the open window; the street lamp is compared to a giant with one red eye in its head.
6. 06The watchman swings a lantern and walks with his shadow, and 'never once goes to bed in his life' — which the child finds thrilling.
7. 07The chapter's 'Let us Write' activity prompts students to reflect on the harder, unseen side of each job and to research the vocations of notable Indians such as A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and M.S. Subbulakshmi.