River Gypsies in Bangladesh | Class 8 English 1st Paper Unit 7 Lesson 3

River Gypsies in Bangladesh This class “River Gypsies in Bangladesh [1]” is Lesson 3 of Unit 7 of English 1st Paper of Class 8. River gypsies are an ethnic group in Bangladesh. They are known as bedey (বেদে) and water gypsies to local people. They live in groups and they have their own lifestyle and culture.

They have no land and they lead a nomadic life by traveling from one place to another. English Teacher Mohammad Mosharaf Hossain took the class. The unit name of this lesson is “A Glimpse of our culture”. We took two classes on “River Gypsies in Bangladesh” in this series.

River Gypsies in Bangladesh

Read the text and answer the following questions.

River gypsies are an ethnic group of people in Bangladesh. They are known as bedey to local people. The gypsies have their own lifestyle and culture. They live in groups and do not own any land. Therefore, they live a nomadic life, traveling from one place to another. These people roam across our rivers and waters from May to December in small country boats. These boats are their houses and these people are a part of our waters. In winter, many water bodies dry up.

At that time they return to the mainland and live in make-shift tarpaulin tents on open river banks. You can see their men relaxing in the tents. Toddlers play with dogs or other pets in the dust. Women often idle away time by hair doing, picking off lice in twos or threes sitting in a row.

Throughout the monsoon, they remain busy with fishing. They also dive for natural pearls in water. Sometimes, they camp for a couple of weeks. Men catch snakes and entertain people with snake charming and sell herbal cures. Women go from door to door to sell bangles, cosmetics, and other things. They also try to heal the pains of old people often by sucking out blood from their bodies.

Questions

1. Who are river gypsies?
2. How do they live?
3. What do river gypsies do in winter?
4. What do river gypsy men do for a living?
5. What do river gypsy women do for a living?

B. Discuss with your partner and circle the right answer.

1 The term ‘ethnic’ is connected to

1. people.
2. plants.
3. animals.
4. fishes.

2 River gypsies roam around on their boats about

1. six
2. seven
3. eight
4. nine

3 River gypsies live in tents in

1. summer.
2. winter.
3. monsoon.
4. spring.

4 The term ‘nomadic’ refers to a person who

1. stays permanently at a place.
2. travels from place to place.
3. lives in one’s own house.
4. lives in a rented house.

Details about River Gypsies in Bangladesh – English Grammar :