NCERT Book Class 8 English (It So Happened) Chapter 2 Children at work

2 Children at work
Before you read
There are many reasons why children have to work. Some help their
family make a livelihood. Others, who run away from unhappy
homes, need to support themselves. Children who have to work can’t
go to school and play like other children of their age.

I
• Velu, an eleven-year old boy, runs away from home.
• He wanders around for hours before getting on a train to Chennai
without a ticket.
• Tired and hungry, he doesn’t know where to go when a stranger
at the station shouts a word of welcome.

WHEN the Kanyakumari Express pulled in at Chennai Central, it
took Velu some time to get off. When he finally stood on the platform,
his legs felt wobbly, as if he was still on a moving train.
“Oy, out of the way!” A porter went by with a loaded trolley. Velu
jumped aside.
He sat on a bench on the platform, putting his small bundle
down. In all his eleven years, he had never seen so many people,
except once a year at the fair in his village. People walked by,
bumping into him with their suitcases. A voice announced
something on a loudspeaker. Near him a group of people sat on
pulled in: arrived wobbly: unsteady