Class 8 English Chapter 1 Question Answers - It So Happened

Q1: Is Velu a smart boy? Which instances in the text show that he is or isn’t.
Ans: Yes. Velu seems to be a smart boy. He ran away from his village because of bad circumstances. When he reached Chennai, the girl, who was a ragpicker, tried to help him. Initially, he thought of not taking her help. However, he was smart enough to realize that he was very hungry and did not know where to go. Therefore, he followed the girl. He knew how to read Tamil. When the girl asked him to eat the banana that she found in the garbage, he refused at first. However, he quickly realized that the girl was very strange, still he continued to walk along with her. He tried to understand why she collected rubbish. He knew that he had not come to the big city to collect rubbish; however, he adjusted to the circumstances and decided to do the same work till he found a better job.

Q2: Is Velu happy or unhappy to find work? Give a reason for your answer.
Ans: Velu was unhappy to find work because he had not run away from home to dig through garbage bins. The only work he had ever done was weeding and taking cows out to graze. However, since he did not know Chennai too well, he decided to work as a ragpicker till the time he found a better job.

Q3: ‘What one throws away as waste may be valuable to others’. Do you find this sentence meaningful in the context of this story? How?
Ans: Yes, the story shows that what one throws away as waste might be valuable to others. The empty bottles, paper, and items of plastic are thrown out by the people. The ragpicker earns their living by collecting them. The waste is valuable and a blessing for them, and their life depends upon it.

Q4: Velu was optimistic and had not become the victim of poverty. What could be his strength to survive?
Ans: Velu ran away from his village and came to Chennai. He worked in the farms and his earnings were spent by his father on his drink. He left the village for a better place. But when he reached Chennai, he had to eat from garbage and had to walk barefoot on the road. Then he compared his village life with his present. The hutments and job of rag picking were depressing to him. Yet he had not lost his heart. He decided to change for a better job once he got an opportunity. He did not like to compromise. It is evident that he would come out from such an undignified life. His optimism is very obvious from his statement.

Q5: There are various laws for the betterment of children yet no noticeable change is evident. Do you agree?
Ans: The constitution provides free and compulsory education for every child until the age of fourteen years. Labour laws also suggest that it is an offence to put a child into child labour and there are strict rules for it. Yet they are widely violated. The conditions throughout the country are all the same. Circumstances sometimes lead children to work even at the age where they should go to school to study and play. But the hostile condition led them to surrender to their fate. Society and government organizations should co-ordinate for the betterment of such deprived children. They should be given support and shelter. Then only their future would be bright. They could pursue their dreams and aspirations and work for the betterment of the nation.