Everybody’s Water: ICSE Class V English literature

Everybody’s Water is a play included in the syllabus for Class 5 English literature subject for ICSE students.

This play was scripted by Maraa, a media collective, for the Schools Water Portal, a platform for sharing knowledge on water as a resource among teachers, students, school management, and parents.

Everybody’s Water: Questions and Answers

Reference to Context

Breaking news, live and exclusive on Earth TV. All the water has disappeared from our planet.

Question: Who says these lines?

Answer: The TV Journalist says these lines.

Question: In your own words, explain what ‘breaking news’ means.

Answer: “Breaking news” means a news that is very recent and important, with the potential to have a big impact.

Question: List the four water sources that had run dry at the start of the play.

Answer: The tap, the well, the hand pump and the pot are the four water sources that had run dry at the start of the play.

GROUNDWATER: I have something to say. You don’t forget to recharge your phones, do you? You don’t forget to eat and recharge your energy, do you?

Question: To whom is Groundwater speaking?

Ans: Groundwater is speaking to Everybody.

Question: What are the two things Groundwater lists in these lines? Why are these things easy to remember?

Ans: The two things that Groundwater lists in these lines are recharging your phones and eating food to provide energy to the body. These things are easy to remember because we do them very frequently.

Question: What else does Groundwater want us to remember?

Ans: Groundwater wants us to throw extra or waste water on the ground or soil.

Question: Why did Water decide to take Everybody to court?

Answer: Water decided to take Everybody to court because it wanted to make them realise how they were misusing the water. It also wanted Everybody to treat it wisely and kindly.

Question: List any three complaints of the sources of water.

Answer: The three complaints of the sources of water are:

1. Nobody cared to save rainwater which pour from the clouds; this water gets wasted and dumped into sea without being used.
2. Water bodies like Lakes are being dumped with chemicals and harmful materials because of which the water of the Lake becomes impure and polluted thereby affecting fish and other species of the lake as well.
3. Everybody is digging borewells and sucking out water from different places in the ground, but no one cares to replenish this water. They are not thinking of recharging the soil or ground with water. Everybody is just busy taking out water but not putting it back.

Question: What does Water wish for at the end of the play?

Answer: At the end of the play, Water wishes that Everybody realises the importance of water and treats it wisely and kindly.

Question: What does the word recharge mean? What does the play teach us about ways to recharge the water in the ground?

Ans: The word recharge means to restore, regenerate and rejuvenate. The play teaches us to throw any spare or waste water on the ground, and also to plant many more trees.