1.3 The Call of the Soil: A scent Of Rice

ICE BREAKERS

Venkat Iyer

Discuss the following with your partner and complete the following sentences. One is done for you.    
(a) Before eating apples brought from the market, I wash and peel them off
 (b) In a farmers’ market, we find grains, vegetables and fruits  .
 (c) Food adulteration means addition of something in food to increase the weight  .
 (d) Organic food is grown by using organic fertilizer.

 (e) Organic fertilizer means fertilizer made of animal matter , animal excreta, human excreta and dried  and green leaves . 

• Complete the following web diagram :

(i) Find out from your grandparents or parents the names of vegetables
and fruits they had eaten in their childhood and mention how the
vegetables and fruits are different from the ones today.
Name of the vegetable or fruit Shape Colour Taste
1.
2.
3.
(ii) You might have learnt about organic farming. Make groups and
discuss the difference between conventional farming and organic
farming and write it down.
Sr.No. Con

Word Definition

adjacent - nearby

advent - coming

alluring - enticing

appetite- hunger

awful -extremely

biodiversity -biological diversity

curse -a prayer for harm

damp -slightly wet

disappeared- vanished

ditch- a long narrow excavation

drifted- carried along

exhilarated very happy

fading disappearing

fences barriers made by posts and wires

fertile productive

harvest process of gathering harvest

hustle and bustle energetic activity

indication hint

insatiable impossible to satisfy

insipid tasteless

lamented regretted

pleasantries humourous act

ramshackle in a state of disrepair

recede move back

reminiscing remembering a story about a past event

resist exert force in opposition

rue regret

scowl a facial expressions of displeasure

tempted attracted

yield product

Test on Vocabulary

(A1) (i) Read the extract and state whether the following statements are true
or false. Correct the false statements.
 (a) Growing in abundance is more important than the quality of the
crop. False
Correct : Growing in abundance is not as important as the quality of the
crop
 (b) The author wanted to grow the desi variety of rice. True
 (c) The author did not succeed in finding Kasbai. False
Correct : The author found Kasbai rice at adivasi old woman's house in Boripada. 
 (d) The aroma of the ‘desi’ rice would spread around the village. True
 (e) Newer hybrid crops have a great appetite for chemical. True
(f)  The author is an example of 'reverse migration'. True 
(ii) Complete the flow chart.

(iii) Read the text and fill in the blanks. One is done for you.

 (a) The author wanted to grow organic moong.
 (b) Moru Dada wanted to spray ........... on the moong crop.
 (c) Baban’s father and some elders mentioned the name of .........
 (d) “Hybrids need more............. ”, said Devu Handa.
 (e) The author bought ..........of rice from an Adivasi
woman who lived in remote hills.
b) pesticide c) Kasbai d) chemicals e)  a basketful

(A2) (i) List the reactions of the agricultural officer to the author’s inquiry
about Kasbai rice seeds. One is done for you.
 (a) He had not heard of Kasbai.
 (b) He said that there was no rice by that name.
 (c) He offered to give the author latest hybrid seeds of rice free of cost .

(ii) Go through the text once again and note down Devu Handa’s fond
memories of Kasbai in your exercise book. One is done for you.

 Devu Handa has fond memories of Kasbai. They are as follows !

 (a) It needs rain.
 (b) People passing through the village would stop due to aroma of rice and ask for meal.
 (c) The entire village would grow Kasbai.
(A3) (i) The writer says he grew ‘an awful lot of moong’. Explain the word
'awful' in this sentence.

(ii) The word scent is different from its synonyms aroma, fragrance or
perfume. Explain how the word 'scent' in the subtitle ‘Scent of the
Rice’, has a deeper meaning than ‘perfume’ or ‘fragrance’. Tick
phrases having a similar meaning from the following:
 (a) In pursuit of
 (b) To smell a rat
 (c) To be keen
 (d) On the tail of
 (e) To feel under the weather

(A5) (i) Planting and growing more crops a year seems to be progress by
normal standards; but the chapter makes a case against it. Giver reasons.
Ans: Chemical fertilifer , pesticides and insecticide are used to yield more crop. Food grown in this process is unsafe . Consumption of such food leads to illness . Even the fertility  of the land gets damaged . So the author prefers less crop grown out of organic fertilifer. 
(ii) Describe in about 150 words your experience similar to the writer’s
when you pursued something and reached your goal.
(iii) The writer goes in search of an invaluable indigenous variety ofy
seeds. List three reasons for the importance of keeping records of
our indigenous agricultural practices.
Ans: 1. Keeping records of
our indigenous agricultural PRACTICES is necessary for the research on them. 
2. It helps the locals to understand the importance of indigenous agricultural practices. 
3. The indigindig agricultural practices are based on ecological knowledge such as agroforestry , water conservation. 
(iv) Write a blog in about 100 to 150 words on organic farming.