today any person with a jackfruit-like physical

appearance is easily compared to a baker. Oral Comprehension Check Match the following. What is a must (i) as marriage gifts? – cakes and bolinhas (ii) for a party or a feast? – sweet bread called bol (iii) for a daughter’s engagement? – bread (iv) for Christmas? – sandwiches What did the bakers wear: (i) in the Portuguese days? (ii) when the author was young? Who invites the comment — “he is dressed like a pader”? Why? . Where were the monthly accounts of the baker recorded? . What does a ‘jackfruit -like appearance’ mean? plump physique pleasantly fat body open testimony public statement about a character or quality Which of these statements are correct? (i) The pader was an important person in the village in old times. (ii) Paders still exist in Goan villages. (iii) The paders went away with the Portuguese. (iv) The paders continue to wear a single-piece long frock. (v) Bread and cakes were an integral part of Goan life in the old days. (vi) Traditional bread-baking is still a very profitable business. (vii) Paders and their families starve in the present times. Is bread an important part of Goan life? How do you know this? Tick the right answer. What is the tone of the author when he says the following? (i) The thud and the jingle of the traditional baker’s bamboo can still be heard in some places. (nostalgic, hopeful, sad) (ii) Maybe the father is not alive but the son still carries on the family profession. (nostalgic, hopeful, sad) (iii) I still recall the typical fragrance of those loaves. (nostalgic, hopeful, naughty) (iv) The tiger never brushed his teeth. Hot tea could wash and clean up everything so nicely, after all. (naughty, angry, funny) (v) Cakes and bolinhas are a must for Christmas as well as other festivals. (sad, hopeful, matter-of-fact) (vi) The baker and his family never starved. They always looked happy and prosperous. (matter-of-fact, hopeful, sad) I. In this extract, the author talks about traditional bread-baking during his childhood days. Complete the following table with the help of the clues on the left. Then write a paragraph about the author's childhood days. Clues Author’s childhood days the way bread was baked the way the pader sold bread what the pader wore when the pader was paid how the pader looked II. . Compare the piece from the text (on the left below) with the other piece on Goan bakers (on the right). What makes the two texts so different? Are the facts the same? Do both writers give you a picture of the baker? Our elders are often heard reminiscing nostalgically about those good old Portuguese days, the Portuguese and their famous loaves of bread. Those eaters of loaves might have vanished but the makers are still there. We still have amongst us the mixers, the moulders and those who bake the loaves. Those age-old, time-tested furnaces still exist. The fire in the furnaces had not yet been extinguished. The thud and the jingle of the traditional baker’s bamboo, heralding his arrival in the morning, can still be heard in some places. May be the father is not alive but the son still carries on the family profession. Now find a travel brochure about a place you have visited. Look at the description in the brochure. Then write your own account, adding details from your own experience, to give the reader a picture of the place, rather than an impersonal, factual description. In groups, collect information on how bakeries bake bread now and how the process has changed over time. There are a number of craft-based professions which are dying out. Pick one of the crafts below. Make a group presentation to the class about the skills required, and the possible reasons for the decline of the craft. Can you think of ways to revive these crafts? (i) Pottery (v) Carpentry (ii) Batik work (vi) Bamboo weaving (iii) Dhurri (rug) weaving (vii) Making jute products (iv) Embroidery (viii) Handloom After Goa’s liberation, people used to say nostalgically that the Portuguese bread vanished with the paders . But the paders have managed to survive because they have perfected the art of door-to- door delivery service. The paders pick up the knowledge of bread- making from traditions in the family. The leavened, oven-baked bread is a gift of the Portuguese to India.