10th Class Urdu Chapter 5 Notes

Definition

In this humorous essay, Patras Bukhari describes his own comic misadventure of trying to become an early riser for the sake of exam preparation. As his exams approach, he asks his neighbour Lala Ji Pashankar Ji Brahmachari — himself a habitual early riser — to wake him up each morning.

Lala Ji, over-eager to do this good deed, begins pounding on the narrator's door with his fists at six o'clock the very next day, so violently that the wooden door shakes, the glass on the water-decanter rings like a jal-tarang, and the wall calendar swings like a pendulum.

Still half-asleep, the narrator carries on a comic exchange with Lala Ji, comparing him unfavourably to Hazrat Isa (AS), who raised the dead with a single gentle word. Peering outside and seeing only stars, he briefly panics that a solar eclipse or doomsday sign is upon them, before discovering it is barely three o'clock — and scolds Lala Ji for mistaking him for a railway guard.

Undeterred, he resolves to make productive use of being awake, comically debating whether to read Shakespeare (for glimpses of God's grandeur) or Wordsworth (for the peace of nature) first, all while drifting back under his quilt through repeated snoozes. Guilt sets in — he recalls the philosophy of non-violence to stop himself lashing back at Lala Ji — before he finally wakes 'like decent people' at ten o'clock, washes up by noon, has tea at four, and strolls out in the evening.

That evening he lays out books for a fresh, disciplined start to studying — dividing the pages left by the days before his exam and getting an impossible five hundred fifty pages a day — before concluding that waking at three is absurd, and five, six, or seven would be more sensible.

At college, when Lala Ji questions him about not responding, the narrator feigns that he had been at prayer, easily impressing and getting rid of him. By the end, his routine has settled into two fixed wake-up calls — six and ten o'clock — with the prayer excuse ready whenever needed.

Definition

Through this light, self-mocking narrative, Bukhari satirizes the gulf between our grand resolutions for self-discipline and the comic weakness of human nature that undoes them — the essay's humour comes largely from the mismatch between the narrator's elaborate, high-minded plans (precise study schedules, philosophical self-restraint, literary reading order) and his very ordinary, relatable failure to actually follow through on any of them.

Definition

The philosophy of non-violence (ahimsa) has ancient roots in Indian religious thought (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism) and became world-famous in the twentieth century through Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent resistance movement. The author humorously invokes this grand philosophy for a trivial, comic purpose — restraining himself from retaliating against Lala Ji's furious door-knocking — mockingly comparing his own forced, petty patience to Gandhi's serious doctrine, which is itself part of the essay's comic exaggeration.

Definition

'Hungry for nafl' (naflon ka bhooka) is an idiom for someone excessively and needlessly eager to perform extra good deeds to earn merit — used sarcastically here for Lala Ji, whose zeal in waking the narrator went far beyond what was actually asked.

'The neighbour's cannon fire' refers to Lala Ji's violent, relentless fist-pounding on the door, exaggerated for comic effect.

'Ahl-e-zauq' (people of true taste/refinement) is used here specifically for those who appreciate waking up early in the morning.

'When a jackal's death (misfortune) comes, it runs toward the city' is a proverb (zarb-ul-misal), describing someone rushing recklessly toward their own downfall.