Chapter vocation: Vocation | Summary

The poem 'Vocation' by Rabindranath Tagore is a beautiful exploration of a young child's mind and his innocent longing for freedom. Through the eyes of a school-going boy, we see how he perceives the lives of people around him, not as workers with heavy responsibilities, but as individuals enjoying a sense of liberty that he lacks in his own life. The poem is divided into three distinct parts, each occurring at a different time of the day and featuring a different professional—a hawker, a gardener, and a watchman. In the morning, as the boy walks to school at ten o'clock, he meets a hawker selling crystal bangles. To the child, the hawker’s life seems wonderful because he is in no hurry. He can take any road he likes, go to any place he chooses, and there is no fixed time for him to return home. This contrasts sharply with the boy’s own structured life of school bells, specific routes, and strict schedules.

Later in the afternoon, when he returns home from school at four o'clock, he observes a gardener digging in the ground of a nearby house. The boy admires the gardener’s freedom to do whatever he likes with his spade. He notices that the gardener can soil his clothes with dust and work under the hot sun or get wet in the rain without anyone scolding him or taking him to task. For a child who is likely told to keep his clothes clean and stay out of the dirt, the gardener's physically demanding job represents ultimate independence. Finally, at night, when it gets dark and his mother sends him to bed, he looks through his open window and sees the watchman walking up and down the lane. The street is dark and lonely, and the street-lamp looks like a giant with one red eye in its head. The watchman swings his lantern and walks with his shadow, never once going to bed.