The Vanishing Lunchboxes (Question-Answers)

 A. Answer these questions.

1. How does the narrator describe his father’s cooking? Did he enjoy what his father cooked for him?
Ans- The narrator described his father’s cooking as- his father transformed potatoes into stones, turned spinach into mush, and burned onions to charcoal. No, the narrator did not enjoy what his father cooked for him.

2. Why was Class 5 B in furore?
Ans- Class 5 B was in a furore because lunchboxes were vanishing regularly from students’ bags.

3. What did Jatin ask the narrator to do? What was the narrator’s reaction?
Ans- Jatin asked the narrator to keep watch in class for a week. The narrator hesitated for a second before nodding his head.

4. What was the reaction of the narrator’s mother after she returned home?
Ans- The narrator’s mother turned red when she learned about their cook’s betrayal and she turned yellow after tasting the dal that the narrator’s father had cooked.

5. What is the narrator doing at present?
Ans- The narrator is working as a freelance artist at present.

 

B. Read these lines from the text and answer the questions.

1. This is bad you know.

a. Who said this to whom?
Ans- Jatin said this to the class.

b. How did everyone react to his words?
Ans- Everyone was worried about vanishing lunchboxes from the class.

c. What did the speaker decide to do next?
Ans- The speaker decided to solve this mystery of vanishing lunchboxes.

2. My lunchbox no longer made me go into a nervous fit.

a. When did the speaker say these words?
Ans- When the speaker’s mother came back to her home, he said these words.

b. Why did the speaker say these words?
Ans- The speaker said these words because his mother was back and now he knew that he would get such food that would resemble food.

c. Did his lunchbox make him feel miserable? What did he do to prevent it?
Ans- Yes, the speaker’s lunchbox made him feel miserable. He stole the food of his classmates to prevent his misery and save himself from hunger.

C. Summarise what the tiffin thief stole from the lunchboxes of the students and what he gave each of them in return.
Ans- The narrator was given a duty to keep a watch in the class for a week. During that- the tiffin thief stole Preeti’s spicy potatoes and chapattis. The next day, her lunchbox reappeared with a bar of chocolate.
On the second day, Sanjay Sekhri’s lunchbox was vanished. It contained parathas filled with grated cauliflower and the pickles. He got toffees to compensate for his missing lunch.
The third day, Vyajayanthi’s upma was targeted and she got fruit bar in compensation.
The fourth day, Anjali Alexander’s cheese sandwiches disappeared and she got fruit bar in her tiffin, the next day.

D. Think and answer.

1. Why do you think the tiffin thief filled the lunchboxes of the students with tasty titbits when he returned their lunchboxes after eating the food?
Ans- The tiffin thief filled the lunchboxes of the students with tasty titbits when he returned their lunchboxes after eating the food because deep inside his heart he was not feeling good about his theft of food.

2. Do you endorse the narrator’s actions? Was stealing food from his classmates the only option he had?
Ans- No, I don’t endorse the narrator’s actions of stealing food from the lunchboxes of his classmates. I don’t think so, that stealing food from his classmates was the only option that he had. He could have shared his misery with his friends and classmates, so that they could share the food with him or could bring more food for him as well.