Carrier of Words – Class 9 English Chapter 7 Notes & NCERT PDF

Class 9EnglishChapter 7NCERT book: Kaveri - English Class 9

Notes and a simple summary of Chapter 7 of the NCERT Class 9 English book, with the official chapter PDF, flashcards, an MCQ quiz and an AI tutor for your doubts.

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Chapter 7: Carrier of Words

Overview

Chapter 7 of Kaveri is about carrying words — the people and the words that keep us connected. It has two readings:

Reading for Meaning: "Carrier of Words" — a true-life account of Khetaram, a Gramin Dak Sewak (rural postman) who carries mail across the Thar desert to villages near the Indo-Pakistan border.

Reading for Appreciation: "Words" by Charles Swain — a poem which argues that many words often fail us, while a few sincere words touch the heart.

Together they ask a big question: what makes words valuable — the effort of carrying them, and the sincerity with which they are spoken?

Carrier of Words (prose — real-life account)

Before the internet, a letter travelled from the post box through the postal system to the postman and finally to our letter box. Beyond the last railhead, where "the road crumbles into sand", Gramin Dak Sewaks are still "the sole link between the oases of humanity in India's extremes and their faraway families."

Khetaram's world

He is the sole postman of Somarad Branch Post Office in Rajasthan, and has served for 15 years.

His villages (hamlets, called dhaanis) are just 2.5 km short of the Indo-Pakistan border — about 120 km beyond the last railhead at Barmer, 50 km beyond the last phone, and 10 km beyond where the Barmer–Chohtan road ends in soft sand where "even bicycles can't ply".

Mail from Jodhpur, about 330 km away, reaches the border within 24 hours — carried by train, then bus, and finally on Khetaram's shoulders.

Rules say his mailbag cannot exceed 28 kilos. His left shoulder has "slumped from years of carrying a mailbag".

Braving the desert

"Even a single delivery is tiring, as I have to cover 20 km for it."

He delivers even when the heat crosses 50 °C — but the temperature is recorded as 49.9 °C, because 50 °C would mean a state holiday.

His khaki turban and uniform are his only protection against scorching winds and sandstorms that "turn him into a walking sandman".

"Water is too precious to waste on washing, so I can only wipe my body. When I finish, there is a sand dune at my feet every evening."

The Gramin Dak Sewak system

Till 2001, men like Khetaram were called 'delivery agents'. Since then, India's three lakh plus delivery agents became Gramin Dak Sewaks (GDS) — more than 50 per cent of India Post's workforce.

GDS serve the frozen desert of Ladakh, the isles of Lakshadweep and the riverine communities of the northeast. The Postmaster-General of Rajasthan Western Region calls their role "invaluable", as they reach areas "often inaccessible by any means besides foot".

The British postal system was set up to relay company dak between administrative centres; after independence, India Post's mandate was to reach the entire population. India had 25,000 post offices in 1947; today there are more than a lakh and a half.

GDS are selected only if they have access to another means of livelihood; they work five hours a day and may serve till the age of 65.

Trust and the human touch

Khetaram's job gave him "a new lease of life": in a good year he gets only one crop of bajra, which cannot feed his family of five. "Akaal or famine is a way of life here."

Families survive partly on money orders from relatives. Mulk Raj Anand, in Story of the Indian Post Office, wrote that the money order "reflects the absolute confidence which most Indians place in the post office."

A plan to scrap the GDS and hand the job to patwaris was rejected. "We knew they would not be able to do the job," says Budh Singh, a village elder.

Villagers ask him to read letters and write replies. The BSF gives him a lift and a cup of tea; villagers offer a piece of jaggery when he brings news of a birth or a wedding.

The delivery he dreads is an envelope with the right corner torn off, which means news of death. "Ashubh Samachar cannot be carried into the house," so he stands outside, reads it out twice, then tears it to bits: "Bad news must be destroyed."

He hopes phone lines (now 50 km away) will arrive so he may become a Gramin Sanchar Sewak, carrying a cell phone along with the post. "Main tayyar hoon" (I'm ready), he says, and strides off to deliver Panna Devi's dak before sundown.

Message: Ordinary workers like Khetaram hold our social fabric together through endurance, honesty and trust. The chapter ends: "Our salute to all the people like Khetaram!"

Words (poem) — Charles Swain

The poem has six four-line stanzas with the rhyme scheme ABAB (heart/depart, care/air; earth/worth, needs/weeds …).

If words could satisfy the heart,

The heart might find less care;

But words, like summer birds, depart,

And leave but empty air.

Stanza 1: Words cannot truly satisfy the heart; like summer birds they fly away, leaving "empty air".

Stanza 2: The heart is "a pilgrim upon earth"; when it needs comfort, words are "of as little worth / As just so many weeds".

Stanza 3: "A little said, and truly said" gives deeper joy than "hosts of words, which reach the head, / But never touch the heart."

Stanza 4: The voice that cheers a lonely home "Hath oft the fewest words to say; / But, oh! those few, how dear!"

Stanza 5: If words could satisfy, "The world might hold a feast" (hyperbole) — but when tested, words "Oft satisfy the least!"

Stanza 6: Empty words are like plants that make "a gaudy show" of blossom but cannot grow "One particle of fruit!"

Poetic devices: simile (words, like summer birds; as little worth as … weeds; like plants that make a gaudy show), metaphor (the heart, a pilgrim upon earth), hyperbole (the world might hold a feast), repetition of "words" and "heart" for emphasis, and a regular rhythm of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables.

Message: Sincerity matters more than quantity — a few true words are worth more than a flood of empty ones.

Word Power

hamlets — small settlements (gaon/dhaani)

sole — only (ekmaatra)

slumped — sagged, dropped down (jhuk gaya)

ply — move, travel regularly (chalna)

hefted — lifted with effort (uthaaya)

stipulate — specify as a rule (nirdharit karna)

mojri — traditional footwear of Rajasthan (jooti)

devoid of — completely without (rahit)

riverine — situated on a river bank (nadi-tatiya)

inaccessible — unreachable (durgam)

ambit — range, scope (daayra)

remitted — sent (money) (bheja gaya)

dreads — fears greatly (darta hai)

missive — a letter (patra)

entail — involve (shaamil hona)

depart — go away (chale jaana)

gaudy — showy, too bright (bhadkeela)

Grammar & Language Focus

Present perfect tense — has/have + past participle. Uses taught: finished actions with present results (She has found her book), recently completed actions (I have just eaten a mango), life experiences (Have you ever seen a play?), accomplishments, changes over time, repeated actions, and actions continuing up to now (I have studied in this school for six years).

Active and passive voice — GDS delivers the mail (active) → The mail is delivered by the GDS (passive). Khetaram's advice is rewritten in the passive: a lot of stamina will be needed for this job.

Phrases in context — crumbles into sand (disappears into the desert), give a new lease of life (get a chance to continue living), bearing words across this desolate geography (carrying letters to less populated areas).

Figures of speech in prose — alliteration in scorching summer winds and swirling sandstorms; metaphor in a walking sandman.

Poetry skills — rhyme scheme, similes, metaphor, hyperbole, repetition, and marking stressed syllables to hear the rhythm.

Speaking & Writing Tasks

Speaking: a group debate in which the postcard, inland letter, envelope and money order form each argue that they are most important (utility, cost, privacy, space to write, enclosures), using cues like "It seems to me that…".

Speaking (poem): choose a quotation about words (Buddha, Gandhi, Vivekananda, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman …) and explain why it appeals to you.

Writing: a condolence message (model: Sawant Singh's message to his cousin Bhawar Singh), then an essay on a quotation — introduction, two body paragraphs, a counter-argument and a conclusion.

Beyond the text: the Daakroom letter-writing carnival (Ministry of Culture, supported by India Post) for a "digital detox"; philately — the study of postage stamps and postal history; telegrams priced by the number of words; Charles-Michel de l'Épée, "The Father of Sign Language and Deaf Education".

Common Mistakes

Calling Khetaram a regular government postman — he is a Gramin Dak Sewak, a separate rural category (known as 'delivery agents' till 2001).

Thinking the temperature never crosses 50 °C — it is recorded as 49.9 °C to avoid declaring a state holiday.

Saying Khetaram carries bad news into the house — he stands outside, reads it twice and tears the letter.

In the poem, reading "a pilgrim upon earth" as a simile — it is a metaphor (no like/as).

Writing the present perfect with the second form of the verb (I have ate) instead of the past participle (I have eaten).

💡 Key Learning Points

✓Understand the life and work of Khetaram, a Gramin Dak Sewak who carries mail across the Thar desert to villages near the Indo-Pakistan border
✓Explain how the GDS system and money orders build trust and keep remote communities connected, and how India Post's aim differed from the British postal system
✓Interpret Charles Swain's poem 'Words': sincere, few words touch the heart more than many empty words
✓Identify simile, metaphor, hyperbole, alliteration and repetition, and work out the ABAB rhyme scheme
✓Use the present perfect tense and convert sentences between active and passive voice; write a condolence message

👨‍🏫 Teaching Tips

→Show Barmer, Somarad and the Indo-Pakistan border on a map of Rajasthan and trace the mail's route from Jodhpur by train, bus and on foot
→Ask students to fill Khetaram's ID-card information sheet in pairs while reading, then compare answers
→Discuss the torn-corner envelope custom and ask why Khetaram reads the letter twice before destroying it
→Hold the postcard vs inland letter vs envelope vs money order debate with the verbal cues from the book
→Read 'Words' aloud and have students clap or underline the stressed syllables to feel the rhythm
→Let students write condolence messages and then peer-review tone: sympathy, prayer, respectful close
→Set up a class philately board with stamps grouped as personalities, celebrations, nature and heritage

📋 Assessment Questions

Why is the temperature recorded as 49.9 degrees celsius instead of 50 degrees celsius?
Give two instances from the text which show that people trust Gramin Dak Sewaks
What does Khetaram do with a letter whose right corner is torn off, and why?
Explain the simile 'words, like summer birds, depart' and the metaphor 'the heart, a pilgrim upon earth'
Rewrite 'GDS delivers the mail at the border' in the passive voice

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