1. Describe in your own words the narrator’s experiences during the school picnic.

During the school picnic, the narrator, along with the other Mahar boys, didn't initially realize that they were
going on an outing. Carrying their school bags, they were instructed by their teacher to return home and fetch
their tiffin. Eager to escape the restrictions of school, they hurriedly ran home in excitement.

When they returned with their simple jowar bhakari and chutney wrapped in dirty rags, they joined the group
of boys and girls who were already gathered. However, their joy was short-lived when Bhiwarabai, a woman,
forcefully took Parshya away, leaving him in tears. Parshya wanted to go on the picnic with them, but
Bhiwarabai insisted that he take his father's food to him, as he was working in the fields without eating.
Bhiwarabai's harsh treatment and abusive words intensified Parshya's pain.

Moving with the entire group, including teachers, boys, and girls, felt unfamiliar to the narrator. They attracted
the attention of women collecting dry dung-cakes, who watched them with admiration. While the Mahar boys
were excited, Harya, a fellow student who had been taken out of school to work as a cattle grazer, appeared
restless. Harya's labour on Girmallya's farm provided him with food and a yearly wage, which alleviated the
burden of feeding his family. Passing by in rows, Harya, seated on a buffalo, joyfully sang.

During the picnic, the more daring boys climbed trees while others roamed freely. The girls engaged in a game
called phugadi, while the teachers played card games. As a young observer, the narrator watched from a
distance, admiring their activities, just as the women who gathered dung had admired the narrator and his
friends.

The boys from the Wani and Brahmin castes played kabbadi, but due to being labeled as Mahars, the narrator
and his friends couldn't join them. Instead, Mallya, Umbrya, Parshya, and others from the Mahar caste played
touch-and-go, their game segregated from the high-caste boys' whirlwind of activity.

After the playtime ended, everyone settled down to eat. The high-caste boys and girls, along with the teachers,
sat in a circle under a banyan tree, while the Mahar boys and girls were asked to sit under a different tree. The
high-caste children said a prayer before eating, which the Mahar children found unfamiliar. Parshya, lacking a
piece of cloth to wrap his food, tied his bhakaris with the narrator's. Mallya had brought bombil fish, while
Umbrya had only brought bhakari without chutney. The narrator's stomach rumbled with hunger as they
opened their small bundles of food. In stark contrast, the high-caste children had a variety of fried and delicious
dishes prepared by their mothers.

The tree under which the Mahar children sat was also in a broken-down state, much like their own
circumstances. Its branches stirred hot gusts of wind that brushed against their faces. Mallya offered his bombil
curry to them, and in return, they shared their dry bhakari since Mallya hadn't brought any. However, the
narrator hesitated to offer his chutney-bhakari to his teacher, uncertain if it would be accepted. The bhakaris of
the high-caste children were undoubtedly of better quality, as their mothers had prepared them with fried
delicacies. The narrator's stomach constantly yearned for more, never feeling fully satisfied.

The high-caste girls from their village graciously offered the Mahar children their curry and bhakaris without
physically touching them. This gesture troubled the narrator, who felt ashamed and guilty about their own
simple food.
Meanwhile, the high-caste boys and girls from the village dined together, with the girls sitting close to the
teachers, engaged in lively conversation. The Mahar children observed them like owls, their attention fixated on
the food. They had only the crumbs of bombil fish, but with each morsel, the narrator savored a taste of the
laughter and joy shared by the high-caste girls. Eventually, they finished eating.

To the narrator's surprise, the teacher asked the high-caste children to collect the leftovers on a piece of paper
and hand it to the Mahar children. Overjoyed, the narrator and Parshya carried the bundle of leftover food on
the way back. While the high-caste children laughed and joked, the Mahar boys followed eagerly, resembling
hungry vultures. Finally, they gathered at Girmallya's farm and opened the bundle, releasing an appetizing
aroma. Sitting in a circle, they voraciously indulged in the remnants of the high-caste children's meal, an
experience they had never had before. Their greedy stomachs devoured the food, resembling the greedy appetite
of a beggar's sack.

When the narrator returned home, they excitedly recounted the day's events to their mother, Masamai. Her
response, comparing their hunger to that of famine victims and expressing disappointment at not receiving even
a small portion, struck a chord within the narrator. The memory of Girmallya's farm echoed within their stomach
like an earthquake. The next day at school, while the senior students busily wrote essays about the picnic, the
narrator, in the third form, struggled to begin writing. Their thoughts lingered on the circle they formed under
the forest tree, the offering of leftovers, the withered shade tree, their mother's question, and the teacher's
derogatory remarks. The task of starting the essay weighed heavily on the narrator's mind.