Summary of Jalebis
Chapter 8 of Class 8 English Supplementary Reader – It So Happened, consists of prose – Jalebis, which is the story of a young boy who yields to the sweet temptation of having Jalebis while he is on his way to school. Read the prose summary of CBSE Class 8 English Prose Notes – Jalebis in the form of CBSE English Notes Class 8 here. We hope this summary will help students to get a detailed understanding of the chapter and refer to it while preparing for their Board exams.
Students can also improve their writing section for the English exam by practising essays on various topics.
CBSE Class 8 English Jalebis Summary
Jalebis is a moral story written by Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi. This value-based story is about an honest young boy, Munna, who yielded to his sweet temptation of having jalebis with the money that he was supposed to pay his school fees. One day Munna, a fifth-class student, was going to school with four rupees in his pocket. This money was given to him by his parents to pay his school fees. However, that day his teacher, Master Ghulam Mohammed was on leave, so he could not make the payment. While he was returning home, Munna was filled with temptation at the sight of fresh jalebis. The coins in his pocket were also jingling, and he felt those coins were persuading him to buy jalebis with them. The oldest rupee told him he could pay his fees with the scholarship money that was due the following day. He realised that the coins talking to him were simply a figment of his imagination.
Munna initially resisted spending the money as it was meant to pay his fees, but he finally gave in to his sweet-tooth craving. At first, he purchased jalebis with one rupee coin. He devoured a mound of jalebis and later purchased more with the remaining money and distributed it among the children in the neighbourhood who had assembled there. Soon, Munna returned home and had difficulty in having food as his stomach was filled with jalebis. But he was more worried about how to pay the fees the following day as he had spent all the money on buying jalebis. The next day when he went to school, he didn’t get the scholarship as it was due the following month.
His teacher, Master Ghulam Mohammed announced that the fees would be collected during recess time. Hearing this, Munna left the school and simply walked until he reached the starting point of the Kambelpur railway station. His elders had warned him not to cross the railway tracks on his own anytime. He remembered that they had also told him earlier never to eat sweets with the fees money. Filled with the guilt of popping Jalebis with the school fees money, he sat under a tree and wondered how to pay his fees.
In desperation, he thought God could help him, so he offered prayers to the Almighty and recited a few verses of the Holy Book, the Quran. In his prayers, he earnestly requested God to give him four rupees so that he could pay his school fees. He admitted that it was his mistake to eat jalebis with the fees money. He promised that he would not repeat it and ardently requested God to put four rupees in his bag. Later, when he checked his bag, he became sad as he couldn’t find any money in it. Saddened, he returned home and didn’t tell anyone at home that he skipped his classes in school.
The following day, he wore fresh clothes, left home for school, but returned from the school gate. He offered another prayer to God, requesting to give him four rupees. He requested the Almighty to keep the money under the rock and he would collect the money kept underneath. Later, when he lifted the rock, Munna found a small worm wriggling under the rock and there was no money there. He continued praying every day with the hope that God would send him money to pay his fees, but nothing happened. Soon, the news of his absence from school reached home, and he was scolded by his parents for not attending his classes.
Later, when Munna was in the seventh or eighth standard, he went on thinking about what harm could it have possibly caused anyone if God had sent him four rupees to pay his fees. Over the years, when Munna grew older, he came to realise that if God gave everything that we asked for, then there would be no difference left between man and other living creatures. He understood that man would not learn anything on his own if he got everything that he desired without any effort. This was an important lesson that Munna learnt from this incident.
Conclusion of Jalebis
In the chapter – Jalebis teaches students that we should not tell lies as we might fall into trouble such that even God will not help us in critical situations. Here, we presented to you the CBSE Class 8 English It So Happened Prose Summary of Jalebis which must have helped 8th standard students to have a comprehensive understanding of the chapter.