Class 8 English · Original EZT practice
Waiting for the Rain (Class 8 English Chapter 12): Velu and the land
Velu is a farmer who has worked his own piece of land for nearly six years without rest - jowar one season, dhal the next. This year the rains do not come, and his world shrinks to waiting. He refuses astrologers, walks to the city weather office, and hears only that there are 'so many favourable conditions but still no rain'. Then, under a large tree, an old woman offers him a different way to see the drought. Kamakshi Balasubramanian's story closes Poorvi Unit 4, Environment. This page gives a summary, themes and practice questions. (Note: this is original practice, not a textbook exercise key.)
6 original worked examples, 6 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 23 October 2026:
1. Summary - the drought
Velu wakes hoping it will rain 'at least today', but the sunrise sky holds not a cloud. For nearly six years he has cultivated his own land without a holiday, but this year the rains fail; days, weeks and months pass, the earth hardens, crusts and cracks, and the farmers live entirely on hope. When neighbours suggest consulting astrologers, Velu refuses - the rains came all these years without such consultations - and instead goes to the weather office in the city, where officials admit they are at a loss themselves.
2. Summary - the old woman under the tree
Resting under a large tree on his tired walk back, Velu meets an old woman whose eyes sparkle when she smiles. When Velu pours out his bitterness - he has worked hard and honestly, yet feels punished - she gently suggests that perhaps he has worked too hard. The earth works too when he ploughs, sows and plants; it has worked for thousands of years. Nature is a mother to all, and she gives her children the rest they need: the rainless months let the land lie undisturbed, resting - and when the rains come, it will spring back, fresh and ready for the crop.
3. Summary - the rains return, and theme
As Velu approaches his village in the evening, he feels a cool breeze on his back, then a tiny drop on his shoulder. Clouds are gathering in the distance; soon there will be lightning, thunder, and sweet, fragrant rain - and Velu runs home laughing and happy. The story's theme is that nature is a living mother whose rhythms include rest; wisdom lies in understanding and working with those rhythms rather than fighting them.
4. Character study - Velu and the old woman
Velu is hard-working, honest and practical - he rejects superstition and seeks answers, but he has never imagined rest, for himself or his land. The old woman is gentle, patient and wise: she speaks softly, calls him 'my son', and turns his bitterness into understanding without a word of scolding.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Read Velu's beliefs
Choose the method: Work, not superstition.
EZT practice question
What do Velu's choices during the drought tell us about his beliefs?
Show the worked solution
- Neighbours suggest consulting astrologers; Velu refuses, saying the rains came all these years without such consultations.
- He walks to the weather office in the city for a practical answer.
- So he trusts hard work and practical enquiry over superstition.
Answer: He trusts hard work and practical enquiry over superstition - he rejects the astrologers because rain never needed them before, and seeks a practical answer from the weather office instead.
Check: His protest - how will talking to astrologers bring rain? - is a demand for causes, not charms.
Watch for this: Do not call him stubborn or hopeless - his refusal is reasoned, and he acts on it by going to the city.
Now try it yourself
What does Velu grow, and for how long has he farmed his land?
Check your answer
Jowar one season and dhal the next, season after season, for nearly six years, ever since he got his own piece of land.
The unbroken work is exactly what the old woman will question.
Describe the drought's effects
Choose the method: Harden, crust, crack.
EZT practice question
Describe the condition of the fields as the drought continues.
Show the worked solution
- Days, weeks and months pass without rain.
- The fields lie untended; the earth hardens, forms a crust and cracks.
- The barren land looks forlorn - sad and neglected - and the farmers live entirely on hope.
Answer: The fields lie untended; the earth hardens, forms a crust and cracks; the barren land looks forlorn - sad and neglected.
Check: The damage is shown in three stages - hardens, crusts, cracks - each worse than the last.
Watch for this: Do not say the fields are flooded or overworked in this part - the crisis is the missing rain.
Now try it yourself
What does the weather office tell Velu, and what does it show?
Check your answer
They cannot tell him when rain will come - 'so many favourable conditions but still no rain' - showing the unpredictability of nature, not anyone's failure.
Even the experts are at a loss, which prepares Velu to hear a different kind of answer.
Explain 'let the land rest'
Choose the method: The soil is a worker too.
EZT practice question
What does the old woman mean by 'let the land rest'?
Show the worked solution
- She points out that the earth works when Velu ploughs, sows and plants - and it has worked for thousands of years.
- Nature is a mother to all, and gives her children the rest they need.
- So the rainless months let the land lie undisturbed and recover, ready to spring back fresh and fertile when the rains come.
Answer: She means the soil itself is a living worker that has been cultivated ceaselessly for years - even thousands of years - and the drought is Nature's way of letting it lie undisturbed and recover, so it can return to activity fresh and fertile.
Check: Her idea turns the drought from punishment into care - the opposite of what Velu first feels.
Watch for this: Do not say she tells Velu to stop farming forever - rest is a season, not a retirement.
Now try it yourself
Why does Velu find the old woman's advice puzzling at first?
Check your answer
He has always believed a farmer must work and never rest until he is too old, so the idea that the land too needs rest - and that not raining could be good - is completely new to him.
'Rest? Let the land rest?' - his startled reply shows how new the thought is.
Describe how she speaks
Choose the method: Softly, smiling, 'my son'.
EZT practice question
How does the old woman speak to Velu, and what does it tell us about her?
Show the worked solution
- She speaks softly and keeps smiling - her eyes sparkle when she smiles.
- She calls him 'my son' while correcting him.
- She is gentle, patient and wise - a motherly figure who corrects with kindness, not scolding.
Answer: Softly and smiling, calling him 'my son' - she is gentle, patient and wise, a motherly figure who corrects him with kindness, not scolding.
Check: Her manner matches her message: Nature the mother corrects her children by caring for them.
Watch for this: Do not read her smile as mocking - Velu asks her to stop smiling only because he feels there is nothing to smile about.
Now try it yourself
Complete: Velu asked the old woman to stop smiling because ____.
Check your answer
Without the rains, he felt there was nothing to smile about.
His bitterness is the wall her gentleness has to cross.
Trace Velu's change of mind
Choose the method: Bitter, puzzled, persuaded.
EZT practice question
What does Velu realise as he walks home?
Show the worked solution
- He replays her words: the land has been worked ceaselessly, year-round, for years.
- He begins to think perhaps she is right.
- His beloved piece of land is perhaps 'breathing peacefully', taking a break from constant cultivation.
Answer: That perhaps she is right - his beloved piece of land is perhaps 'breathing peacefully', taking a break from constant, ceaseless year-round cultivation.
Check: The change is quiet - no argument, just a new picture of his own field resting.
Watch for this: Do not say he decides to abandon the field - he loves it more, not less, after understanding it.
Now try it yourself
What signs tell Velu that rain is coming?
Check your answer
A cool breeze on his back, a tiny drop on his shoulder, clouds gathering in the distance, and the sky growing dark.
The signs arrive just as he has made peace with waiting.
Explain the joyful ending
Choose the method: Peace first, then rain.
EZT practice question
Why does Velu run home 'laughing and happy' at the end?
Show the worked solution
- For months he has waited hopelessly for rain.
- He has just made peace with the wait, understanding the land is resting.
- Then the cool breeze, the first drop and the gathering clouds arrive - so his relief and joy overflow.
Answer: After months of hopeless waiting, the first signs of rain - the cool breeze, the drop on his shoulder, the gathering clouds - arrive just as he has made peace with the wait, so his relief and joy overflow.
Check: The rain returns after his understanding changes - the story rewards patience, not panic.
Watch for this: Do not say the old woman brings the rain - the rain comes in nature's own time.
Now try it yourself
In one sentence, what is the message of Waiting for the Rain?
Check your answer
Nature has its own wisdom and rhythm - rest is part of work, and patience is rewarded in its own time.
That is the Unit 4 environment theme in story form.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. Velu's two crops?
Show answer and reason
Jowar one season, dhal the next.
Nearly six years without a holiday.
2. Weather office's answer?
Show answer and reason
'So many favourable conditions but still no rain. Very odd!'
Even the experts are at a loss.
3. The old woman's idea?
Show answer and reason
The land is a worker too - let it rest.
Earth has worked for thousands of years.
4. First signs of returning rain?
Show answer and reason
Cool breeze, a tiny drop, gathering clouds.
Velu runs home laughing and happy.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Quote the weather office's puzzled remark.
- List the three stages of the earth drying in the drought.
- In one sentence, state what the old woman teaches Velu.
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Questions about this practice page
- Who is the author of Waiting for the Rain in Class 8 Poorvi?
- Kamakshi Balasubramanian. The story appears in Unit 4, Environment, of the NCERT Class 8 English textbook Poorvi.
- Why does Velu refuse to consult astrologers?
- Because the rains came all these years without any such consultations - he cannot see how talking to astrologers will bring rain, and prefers a practical enquiry at the weather office.
- Who is the old woman in Waiting for the Rain?
- A gentle, wise stranger Velu meets under a large tree; she explains that the earth has worked for thousands of years and that Nature, a mother to all, gives the land rest through the rainless season.
- What lesson does Velu learn in the story?
- That the land is a living worker that needs rest; the drought is nature letting the soil lie undisturbed so it can spring back fresh and ready for the next crop.
- How does Waiting for the Rain end?
- As evening falls, Velu feels a cool breeze and a first tiny drop, sees clouds gathering - and runs home laughing and happy as the rains finally arrive.