• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Class Notes

  • Home
  • Class 1-5
  • Class 6
  • Class 7
  • Class 8
  • Class 9
  • Class 10
  • Class 11
  • Class 12
  • NCERT Solutions
Home » Class 8 » English » It So Happened » The Treasure Within, Class 8 English, Chapter 4 Notes

The Treasure Within, Class 8 English, Chapter 4 Notes

Last Updated on February 16, 2023 By Mrs Shilpi Nagpal

Contents

  • 1 Class 8 English Chapter 4 The Treasure Within Notes
  • 2 Summary
  • 3 Word Meanings

Class 8 English Chapter 4
The Treasure Within Notes

Text Book NCERT
Class Class 8
Subject English
Book Name It So Happened
Chapter Name The Treasure Within
Category Class 8 English

Summary

Hafeez Contractor was a very unhappy school boy. In the first and second year he was a good student. From the third standard onwards, he seemed to have lost all interest in studies. He was particularly afraid of Mathematics. He had nightmares about a maths examination. He dreamt of appearing in the examination not knowing anything at all about the subject.

As a student Contractor was interested in games and playing jokes on others. He was a very good sportsman. He was the senior champion for many years. He was also the captain of his school cricket team. Contractor passed his examinations only by copying. However when he approached his 11th class, the Principal called him and said, “Look here, Son, I have been seeing you since day one. You are a good student but you never study. I have taken care of you till today. Now, I can no longer take care of you. So you have to take care of yourself.” He talked to him for five  minutes. He exhorted Contractor to rise to the occasion and study.

The Principal’s advice had the desired effect on Contractor. He would go for prayers and all he would do was eat and study. As a result, he got 50% in his SSC. Contractor was being interviewed by Ms Bela Raja. She asked him if he was punished at school. Contractor replied that the teachers pulled him up regularly. He would receive a caning every week. However he never felt anything on that account. He was more interested in playing.

Contractor was just interested in playing and nothing else. He was also the leader of a gang. He would have gang fights and plan strategies. These things interested him more than the books. One day, he did not want to study, so he created a distraction. For one whole hour they played chor police. After school, Contractor wanted to join the army. His aunt wouldn’t allow it. His mother won’t allow him to join police force either. She asked him to do his graduation. It was by using some influence that he got admission in Jaihind College. There he had to study French. Being weak at French, he had to take his married cousin’s help. Her husband was an architect. So he started going to an architect’s office to learn French.

One day, in the architect’s office he saw somebody drawing a window detail. The window detail is a very advanced drawing. Contractor told him that his drawing was wrong. He added that the window he had drawn would not open. There was a bet which Contractor won. This surprised his cousin’s husband. He asked him to draw a few specific things. Contractor did that at once. The man was so impressed that he asked Contractor to drop everything and join architecture.

That architect took him to the Principal of the college. In the college for architecture nobody who had got below 80-90 per cent was allowed to enter. Contractor had only 50 percent. So the Principal warned him, “I will allow you to take part in the entrance examination but if you do not do well,  I will not allow you to join. Contractor got an A+ in that entrance examination. After that it was a cakewalk. He stood first  class first throughout after that. Contractor never made a plan. One of his teachers Mrs. Gupta ad told him, “You are useless in everything but your sketches are good.

Contractor was bad at languages. His maths was also very bad. In fact, he never applied his mind to them. He was in a boarding school where every day was a new day for him. When there were tests, he just copied. Those who always stood first or second in his school are doing ordinary jobs. As for himself, the school life made him street-smart. He learnt more by what he did than what the books taught him.

At school, Contractor was interested in other things and not in books. If it rained outside the class, he would think of the flowing water. He would forget the lecture and think about the flow of water within the dam. He would wonder how much water would the dam hold. Discipline in his school was very important. Sometimes as student would lose a button while fighting. In that case he would run. Contractor would cut a button from a chalk using a blade. No one could then see that his real button was missing. He would get past dinner with a full neat uniform.

Today when a client comes to Contractor, he looks at him closely. He would observe his face, clothes and manners. That gives him an idea of his taste. He is able to relate to people in a way that would be comfortable. Then he makes a sketch spontaneously. He gives it to his people in the office. Contractor says his sketches are his mathematics. He puts design, construction, psychology and sociology together. Making a sketch from all that is contractor’s definition of mathematics.

Word Meanings

Word Meaning
detested disliked
influenced effected
terrible horrible
nightmare frightening dreams
disappeared vanished
psyche mind or mentality
gotten over won over
absolutely completely
potential latent
pranks tricks
day one the beginning
bring you up support
rise to the occasion prove oneself equal to the
demand
normally as a rule
consider assume
pull you up scold you
caning beating by a cane
state of mind feeling
lift up raise
threatened in danger
insecure unsafe
eat to my heart’s content eat my fill
gang group
strategies plan of action
book reserve
stumbled discovered or met with
accidentally
offbeat unconventional
calling vocation
tore it up turned it into pieces
influence recommendation
bet stake
specific particular
immediately all at once
design sketch
drop given up
a cake walk all very easy
looked like appeared as
section division
forts strong hold
ammunition armaments
effort attempt
sketches drawing
grow up come of age
cope manage
deal with face
curriculum syllabus
bother care
boring dull
concept basic idea
living from day to day not bothering about the future
back then in those old times
contention belief or opinion
giftedness genius
disabilities inabilities
go hand in hand go together
come across met
skills abilities
expression utterance
defied broke
hold keep
afford manage without serious
consequences
structure design
relate to establish a relationship
comfortable sympathetic
spontaneously freely
on the spot at that very moment
instinctively naturally
psychology the science of mind
sociology the study of social life
interpretation understanding
Share with Friends

Filed Under: Class 8, English, It So Happened

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Comet – I, Class 8 English, Chapter 9 Notes
  • Essay on Holi for Kids and Students
  • Jalebis, Class 8 English, Chapter 8 Notes
  • The Open Window, Class 8 English, Chapter 7 Notes
  • The Fight, Class 8 English, Chapter 6 Notes
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

© 2016 - 2023 · Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · About Us · Contact Us