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Question
How does the play ‘The Never – Never Nest’ expose the harsh reality of modern living?
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Solution
In modem times, the plastic currency has become popular in India, as a country known for saving for future needs; a country that is proud of the adage “save for a rainy day” has undergone drastic changes. Consumer culture has eroded into every common man’s home. The credit card has swindled the younger generation of their capacity to spend hard cash. Their future earnings are pledged for the purchase of luxurious things. Modem man buys things that are heavily advertised and which are often caused by jealousy. Supermarkets, Amazon, Flipkart, and other online commercial organizations encourage the purchase of everything ranging from laptops, electronic items, and from home appliances to undergarments and shoes using credit cards.
Popular malls, Hire purchase corporate giants like Vasanth & co, Rathna Fan house offer costly consumables with a down payment of just one rupee and the rest in easy equated monthly installments. Tempted by such fabulous offers, modem men and women lose their heads and go on a spending spree. They, like Jack and Jill, spend beyond their means.
Many of them eat into their future earnings. They buy house loans and when corporate giants like Sathyam sacks young Engineers out of jobs, they end up as chain snatchers and vehicle robbers unable to pay back EMIs Or credit card monthly payments. Spending on future earnings is like issuing a post-dated cheque on a crashing bank. One must be very cautious. The best way out would be to avoid immediate gratification but save money and wait until enough money is there to purchase what one wants.
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Adapted from : The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society – By Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
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(iii) What did the man say when Granny Pheen asked him how he knew about cats’ lives?[2]
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