Read the poem and answer the questions given below it.
The Umbrella Mender
Under the neem tree by the post office
old Kasim sits on a sack, his tools laid out:
a coil of wire, black thread, a pair of pliers,
spare ribs and handles in a biscuit tin.
All summer no one stops. The sun is harsh,
and people hurry past him to the shade.
But when the first clouds gather over the hills,
the lane remembers him and his small trade.
They bring him broken things: a schoolgirl’s red one,
a clerk’s black giant with three ribs snapped,
a grandmother’s faded one with flowers on it,
older than the lane, and patched and patched.
He turns each one slowly, like a doctor
who listens to a heartbeat through his hands,
then bends a wire, ties a knot, and gives it back
with the same nod for coins or for thanks.
And when the rain comes down at last in sheets,
the lane goes home beneath the roofs he made.
Kasim pulls a plastic sheet over his head
and waits, unhurried, in the dripping shade.
What is the central idea of the poem?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → the quiet worth of a humble worker whom people remember only when they need him
The poem follows Kasim through the year and shows how much the lane depends on him.
- In summer “no one stops”. Only when the clouds come, “the lane remembers him”.
- He mends every umbrella with care and gives it back “with the same nod for coins or for thanks”. He asks for little.
- At the end the whole lane goes home under “the roofs he made”, while he sits under a plastic sheet. His work is worth much more than the notice he gets.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: the hardship of poor workers who sit in the rain all day — Incorrect. Wrong focus: Kasim does wait in the rain at the end, but he waits “unhurried”. The poem shows the worth of his work, not his suffering.
Option 2: the way the monsoon changes life in a small town lane — Incorrect. Wrong focus: The rain is only the season that brings people to Kasim. The poem is about him, not about the lane’s life in the monsoon.
Option 3: the skill needed to mend an old umbrella — Incorrect. Too narrow: One stanza shows him bending a wire and tying a knot. But that is only a part of the poem.