Question

Why did Samir Do, the paperboy, think the author did not know Hindi?

Answer 1

Hint: Samir Ek and Samir Do are characters from the chapter Understanding Diversity. Samir Ek was a boy who sold newspapers, both Hindi and English, at the Janpath crossing at the busy intersection and Samir Do was a student who used to go past that crossing every day.

Complete answer:
Samir Do or the paperboy thought that the author or Samir Ek did not know Hindi because Samir Ek seemed ‘angrez’ to him. Since Samir Do was a boy who sold newspapers at the intersection, he did not go to school and hence was uneducated. This caused him to think that Samir Ek was an angel.
While Samir Do speaks Hindi, Samir Ek is more familiar with English. Samir Ek and Samir Do also had different cultural and religious backgrounds. While Samir Do is a Muslim, Samir Ek is a Hindu. These different cultural and religious backgrounds are an aspect of diversity.
There are other ways in which Samir Do and Samir Ek are different from each other in addition to their diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. For example, while Samir Ek goes to school, Samir Do sells newspapers since he did not have the opportunity to attend school. This difference is not because of different cultural and religious backgrounds but here, we're talking not of difference but of inequality. When a person does not have the opportunities and resources that are available to other persons, this kind of inequality emerges. Another example of inequality is the caste system. According to the caste system, depending upon the work that people did, society was to be divided into different groups and they were supposed to remain in those groups. So if someone’s parents were potters, then they could only become a potter and nothing else. This system was considered irreversible and because changing professions was not supposed to be done, it was not considered necessary for people to know anything more than what they needed in their profession. This brought into existence a situation of inequality.

Note: Diversity and inequality are two different things. Diversity is the difference that occurs due to different cultures, religions, languages, etc. On the other hand, inequality occurs when a person does not get the same opportunities and resources as are available to other persons.