“Where there is a Wheel: Question and Answers“, In addition to the themes of women empowerment, social change, and the importance of transportation, Where there is a Wheel also explores other themes such as the power of community, the importance of education, and the resilience of the human spirit.
Where there is a Wheel Question and Answers
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.
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.
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?
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How did the women react to the shortage of ladies’ cycles?
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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 lady’s 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.
“Where there is a Wheel” is a powerful and inspiring story about the impact of bicycles on the lives of rural women in Pudukkottai. Sainath shows us how bicycles can empower women and help them to break free from the cycle of poverty and oppression.
Overall, Where there is a Wheel is an inspiring essay that celebrates the resilience and determination of the human spirit. It is a reminder that change is possible, even in the face of adversity.