English prose

The boy who broke the bank STD class 8

I. Difficult words
II. Synonyms
III. About the author
IV. Question and answer (page6)
1. Nathu, the sweeper boy, was annoyed because he hadn’t received his regular pay or
salary for two months.
2. Mrs. Prakash informed Mrs. Bhushan that Seth Govind Ram’s bank was not being able
to pay its employees for two months, which included Nathu, the sweeper boy of the
bank. Mrs. Bhushan told her husband and then others. This is how the news about the
bank changed or passed on from Mrs. Prakash’s to Mrs. Bhushan and thereafter to the
whole town.
3. When Faiz Hussain, the barber, heard the news of the bank going bankrupt, his hands
shook and he nicked the customer’s right ear. The customer, an elderly gentleman,
yelped with pain and distress, not because of the cut but because of the awful news
he had just heard.

This line “With one side of his neck unshaved, he ran out of the shop to a general store
where there was a telephone” shows us that he was more worried about his money in the
bank than his injury.

7. It was Nathu who was responsible for ‘breaking the bank’. Nathu had complained to
Sitaram about the irregular payment of his salary. Sitaram gladly wanted to help his friend
and asked Mrs. Prakash for that work, of sweeping her courtyard and also mentioned about
the irregular payment of Nathu’s salary in the bank. The news spread from Mrs. Prakash to
Mrs. Bhushan, and thereafter spread across the town like wildfire, ending in the bank’s
shutdown or closedown.

V. Read the lines and answer these questions. (extract)

4 a. As soon the elderly customer at the barber shop knew of the bank going insolvent,
he dialled to Seth Govind Ram’s number from a general store. He got to know that Seth Govind
Ram was not in town but in Kashmir, holidaying. He speculated that Seth Govind Ram had left
the town and this news convinced everyone that Seth had run away.

b. The absurd rumours that were spreading about Seth Govind Ram was, that he had fled
out of town, state or country. Some believed that he was hiding somewhere close by, possibly
within the town.

c. Yes, Seth’s reputation, of his pleasure- loving attitude and careless business dealings,
made the rumours easier to believe. Hence this made people to withdrew money from the
bank, way ahead of the speculated crash.

5 a. The clerk said these words over the telephone to a relative. The relative had called
him to get information about the bank’s collapse but he replied that he did not know anything
and could not understand, why half the town was at the bank, trying to take their money out.

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English prose

b. The incident of the entire town gathering at the bank and demanding their money,
threatening to break in reflects the “madness of the town”.

6a. No, the town residents did not show any concern for workers like Nathu, the
sweeper-boy because the clerk himself admitted that their salaries were paid on time but few of
the part-time workers were paid late or even delayed.

b. Part-time workers like Nathu will be affected by the collapse of the bank than its rich
owner, Seth Govind Ram.

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