WALLS TELL STORIES-TEXT

WALLS TELL STORIES

ENVIRONMENTALSTUDIES

CBSE-V

Golconda (sometimes spelled as Golkonda) Fort was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Golconda which flourished in the 14th to 16th century. It is situated 11 kilometers from Hyderabad, the capital of the state of Telangana.

The walls ranging from 17 to 34 feet broken by 87 semi-circular bastions in shape, some reaching 60 feet in height, and built on a granite hill that is 400 feet high and it remains one of India’s most magnificent fortress complexes.

Even before the kingdom of Golconda rose in prominence, the beginning of the fort was thought to be in 1143, when the Kakatiya Dynasty ruled the region.

According to legend, a shepherd boy found an idol in the area. When this was reported to the Kakatiyan king, he ordered a mud fort to be built around it. The fort eventually became known as Golla Konda, which in Tegulu meant Shepherd’s Hill.

In 1686, the Mughal prince Aurangzeb started to lay siege on the fort of Golconda, with the intent of claiming Hydebarad, the wealthy capital of the Qutub Shahi dynasty.

The fortress proved to be as impregnable as its reputation claimed. It wasn’t until the year after, in 1687, when Aurangzeb finally managed to breach the fort after a nine-month long siege. It was said that the fort only fell down because of a traitor who sabotaged the gate.

Today, even after almost 800 years, the fort still stands as one of Hyderabad’s greatest architectural wonders. One of it’s gratest engineering marvels is the fantastic acoustic effects: one handclap at a certain point below the entrance dome can be heard at the highest point of the pavilion almost a kilometer away. This was said to be used for warning the royals in case of an attack.

Reached Golconda
At last we reached Golconda. We were glad that didi was with us. Didi studies history and we enjoy visiting different places with her.

Shailja: My goodness! This fort is so huge.
Shreedhar: And see at what a height it is built!
Kalyani: Just look! Have you ever seen such a huge gate?
Shailja: It must be very heavy. I wonder how many people would be needed to open and close this gate.
Kalyani : Look at these sharp ironSpokes. I wonder why they were made?
Shailja: Look at these thick walls too.
Shreedhar: I have never seen such thick walls.
Kalyani: At some places, a part of the wall comes out in a round shape. I wonder why?
Didi:These are called bastions (burj).

See these are even higher than the wall. The outer wall of this fort has 87 bastions. Thick walls, a huge gate and so many bastions! So many ways to ensure security

What did we find inside the fort?
Shailja: I wonder how old this fort would be? Do you think the
king built the fort so that he could live here?
Kalyani : It was written outside that Qutubshahi Sultans ruled here one after another, from 1518-1687.
Didi : Much before that, in 1200, this fort was made of mud and different rulers lived here.

Shailja: Oh look! This board has a map of the fort.
Shreedhar: This map shows so many gardens, fields and factories. See, there are many palaces also inside the fort.
Shailja: That means that not only the Sultan, but many other people like farmers and workers must also have been living here.
Kalyani: It must have been a complete town.

The Sultan’s Palace
Shreedhar: These steps seem to go on and on. Shailja: Even in those days they used to have buildings with two floors!
Kalyani: Now, the building is in ruins. But one can imagine that earlier there were many big halls and rooms here.
Shreedhar: Look at this beautiful carving on the walls. It is so fine
Kalyani : We also saw something like a fountain on one of the roofs.
Didi : Yes, there were many big tanks and fountains here. They used to be full of water.

Wow, what engineering!
Think, even today when engineers design houses, sometimes there is dampness in the walls. And here, so long ago, there were fountains on the terrace!

The building must have been made with such good understanding. If we think how the people lived five hundred years ago, so many questions come to our mind. For example, how was water lifted to such heights? Can you guess how?

Why these attacks?
While we were all talking, Shreedhar called us to see a big gun (cannon). We ran up the steps.

Shailja: This must have been the Sultan's big gun.
Didi : This was used by Aurangzeb. His full army came with their guns and cannons to attack but they could not even enter the fort. For eight months they camped outside the fort.
Shailja: Why would the army come here all the way from Delhi?

Didi: In those days, emperors and kings, played such tricks. They tried to make smaller kingdoms a part of their own kingdom. This was done sometimes by friendship, sometimes by flattery, or even by marriage between families. And when nothing else worked, they also attacked them!

Kalyani: Why is it that Aurangzeb’s army could not get into the fort? He had so many soldiers and big guns.

Shailja: Didn’t you see these strong thick walls? In the map there is a long deep ditch (pit) along the wall. How could the army enter?

Shreedhar: If the army tried to come from a different side, then the soldiers in the bastions would have seen it from a distance. No wonder it was difficult to attack the fort!

Kalyani: Imagine! The army is coming on horses and elephants, with all their guns. Here, the Sultan's army stands fully prepared.

Shailja: Oh no! How many people and soldiers on both the sides must have been killed in all this fighting? Why do people attack and have wars?

Shreedhar: Guns and cannons are things of the past now. These days many countries have nuclear bombs. A single bomb can cause so much destruction!

When there was no telephone:
Didi asked us to wait at the king's palace. She herself went to Fateh Darwaza. A while later we heard Didi’s voice, “Alert! I am Sultan Abul Hassan. I am very fond of music and Kuchipudi dance.” We all laughed. We were surprised how didi’s voice could be heard from so far. She later told us that if you stand at Fateh Darwaza whatever you speak can be heard at the king’s palace.

Arrangements for water:
The picture shown here is made after seeing a very old painting of
those times. Can you think why bullocks have been used here? Use your hand movement to show in which direction the drum attached
to the rod moves when the bullocks move. In which direction would the ‘toothed wheel’ move?

Look, this pole shown under the ground joins with another
wheel which has a number of pots on it.
Now imagine, how would this garland of pots lift water from the well?

Do you now get some idea about how the tanks could have been filled by lifting water from the wells? Even today we can see clay pipes in the walls of the fort. These pipes would have been used to carry water to different places in the palace.

What a sad sight!
Talking, whistling and listening to our own echo we were walking
through this mehrab (arch).

Shreedhar: Oh! The breeze feels so cool in this tunnel.
Shailja: It was written that soldiers stayed here.
Shreedhar: See this board, but look what the wall is like!
Shailja: Oh! Think how this wall has seen thousands of years go by. It has seen kings and queens, horses and elephants, war and peace... But we have spoilt it in just a few years.
Kalyani: I don’t understand, what kind of fun do people get in writing their names all over the place like this?

Close your eyes and go back in time!
Imagine that you are in those days when there was a busy town inside Golconda. Think about the questions given below and discuss in class. You could even put up a play.

What is the Sultan doing in the palace? What kind of clothes is he wearing? What dishes are being offered to him? But why does he seem so worried? And in what language is he talking?

Going to the museum:
After seeing Golconda, the children also went to a museum in Hyderabad. Many old items are kept there. Many things were found when the place around Golconda was dug – like pots, jewellery, swords, etc.

Shailja: Oh! Why are these broken pieces of pots kept in the almirah? See that small plate made of bronze. That blue piece seems to be made of ceramic (clay).

Didi : It is through all these things that we come to know how people of those times lived, what they used and what things they made. If all these would not have been kept here, how would you know so much about those times?

Make your own museum:
Rajni teaches in a Government school in Mallapuram district in Kerala. Together with the children of her class, she has collected many old things from all the houses. Like old walking sticks, locks, umbrellas, wooden slippers (khadaun), pots, etc. 

They also saw what these things look like today. Rajni and the children put up an exhibition, which people from the neighbourhood came to see. You could also do this.

THANKYOU,
NANDITHA AKUNURI

UP YOU GO-TEXT

UP YOU GO

ENVIRNOMENT STUDIES

CBSE-V

Mountaineering Camp: 2nd February 1984 by Kalyani Raghunathan:

Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) is rated as one of the best mountaineering institutes in India and also considered as the most prestigious mountaineering institute in Asia.

The proposal to have a mountaineering Institute at Uttarkashi was mooted by the Ministry of Defence, Government of India and the Government of Uttar Pradesh in 1964.

Uttarkashi was specially selected as the home of NIM, primarily because of its close proximity to the Gangotri region in western garhwal, which undoubtedly has the best climbing and training potential in India and perhaps in the world. 

The Institute took shape in 1965 at the Provincial Armed Constabulary Campus at Gyansu on the north bank of the river Bhagirathi.

The present location, about 5 Km away across the Bhagitrathi River, was selected in 1970 by a team comprising Late Shri Harish Sarin (then Secretary), Captain M.S.Kohli and the architect, Mr. Rahman and NIM moved to its new location in 1974.

It is now located at 4300 AMSL in the Ladari Reserve Forest, amidst a dense pine forest, overlooking the sacred river and the valley of gods. It has a sprawling campus, spread over almost seven hectares of prime forest land. 

The Institute is headed by a Principal who is handpicked officer by the Ministry of Defence. It has Training and an Administrative wing. The Training Wing comprises of the Vice Principal, the Medical Officer, the intrepid NIM instructional and Kitchen staff. The Administrative Wing which deals with account, rations and equipment are looked after by the Registrar and the Equipment Officer, respectively.

The aim of the Institute is to introduce and initiate young men, women and school children to the mountains and nature through its various Mountaineering and Adventure courses.

Emphasis is laid on instilling the concept of Adventure and following conventional environmental guidelines to ensure environmental awareness and conservation

​

NIM was established at Uttarkashi on 14th Nov 1965 to honor the great desire of Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, who was an ardent mountain lover

he Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi is planning to conduct seven days (07 days) Preliminary Skiing course

Preliminary Skiing Course - Fee structure in Indian Currency

Indian                     Foreigner                      Students(Indian)

5000/-                     12000/-                          4000/-

TERMS & CONDITIONS:

Fee includes: Expenses on food, accommodation, equipment, transportation, medicines and other training expenses during the course.

​

Admission to Foreigners: Have to report to the Principal one day in advance along with the Passport and valid Visa for direct admission into a course, UDS 400 for adventure course and USD 800 each for remaining courses is to be paid as course fee.

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Refund of Fee: Cancellation of seat 2 months earlier entitles refund of fee with 25% deduction.

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Armed Forces & Para Military Personnel: Serving Armed forces, Para Military and NCC Personnel, should apply through their respective Service Headquarters and Departmental Channels. They can also however apply as private trainees.

Repetition of Course : The courses conducted in NIM are subsidized and the vacancies are limited. Repeating a course by an individual leads to denial of opportunity to someone else.

This Institute also conducts special courses for schools and establishments on full cost basis i;e. Rs 1200/- per individual per day for 15 days. These are open and anyone can apply for their confirmation.

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Transfer of Seat: Request of transfer of seat on compassionate ground may be considered only once. No Refund of fee is permitted thereafter.

​

Arrival: Trainees must arrive an evening before commencement of the course, also late arrivals even by a day will not be permitted to join the course.

​

Forms should be submitted through registered post on the following address:-

The principal

Nehru institute of mountaineering

Uttarkashi (uttarakhand)-249 193.

On receipt of Form and Training Fee Applicant will be informed by us by Email/Telephone on Provisional basis and will be subsequently informed for final date on short notice.   

                                                                         

Arrival:

Trainees must arrive an evening before commencement of course. Late arrivals even by one day will not be permitted to join the course.

Let us know some our  kendriya vidyalayas teacher experience when they went training for  Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi. We were at the mountaineering camp and were very excited. Twenty of us were teachers from Kendriya Vidyalayas.

There were other women from banks and other institutions. Today was the second day of the camp. In the morning as I got out of bed and put my foot down, I screamed in pain.

I remembered yesterday’s 26 kilometre walk with the heavy rucksack on

my back. I was afraid to go back to that steep climb and the rough narrow path.

With tears in my eyes I started walking slowly towards the room of Brigadier Gyan Singh, the Director of our adventure course. I was thinking of what I would say to excuse myself from that day’s trek. Suddenly, I heard his deep voice from behind.

“Madam, what are you doing here at breakfast time? Hurry up! Otherwise you will have to trek on an empty stomach.”

“Sir, Sir….,” I could not say any more. “You have came to tell me that you have blisters on your feet, that you cannot walk, isn’t it?” “Yes, sir.” “That is nothing new. Now get ready quickly.”

I hung my head and rushed back to get ready. I had just turned when I heard his voice again, “Listen, madam. You will lead group number 7. You will have to help any member who has difficulty climbing the mountain. You have already been told about the responsibilities of a group leader in the mountains.”

A big responsibility:

I started thinking about what a leader must do:

Help others in carrying their bags.

Let the group go ahead and keep to the last.

Help those who cannot climb properly.

Find a good place to stop and rest.

Look after those who are not well.

Arrange for food for the group.

The most important thing is to be ready to be punished even when some one else may have made a mistake. I realised that there was a special kind of discipline here. I wondered whether the camp will still be fun!

Group No: 7

Group No. 7 included girls from Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Nagaland. I was the only teacher from Kendriya Vidyalaya in this group. I was happy to meet my new group members.

Most of them could not speak Hindi well. I still feel bad that after being together for 21 days, I could not talk even once with Khondonbi from Mizoram. She spoke only Mizo. But in our hearts we grew close to each other.

Crossing the river:

We got vitamin C, iron tablets and hot chocolate milk with our breakfast. These were given for strength and to keep us warm in the cold. Every morning there would be a medical check up. We tied our bandages and counted the days left!

After an eight kilometre trek we reached a river. There was a thick rope tied across the river, from one bank to the other. The rope was tightly fixed to pegs or ‘pitons’ on both the sides. I was feeling nervous. I started thinking what would happen if the rope came out. I was trying to estimate how wide the river was.

Our instructor tied a rope around his waist and put a sling (type of hook) in it. He then put the sling on the thick rope tied across the river. Walking through the icy water, he went to the other side.

No one was ready to step into the fast flowing river. Everyone was pushing each other to go first. I stood last in the line hoping that no one would see me.

Just then our instructor came near me with the sling and rope in his hands. I knew there was no escape now. I was ready, but did not have the courage. Sir could guess my fears. He called out loudly, “Three cheers for Sangeeta madam!” And before I knew it, someone had gently pushed me into the water.

I felt as if my feet were frozen. I started shivering, my teeth were chattering. I caught hold of the rope and started putting my feet firmly on the river bed.

As I walked further in, the river got deeper and slowly the water reached upto my neck. In the middle of the river I lost my balance and started slipping. I was so scared and felt so cold, that the rope slipped from my hands. I started shouting for help.

I was sure I would be carried away by the river. But no, I found that I was tied with the rope to the sling. “Hold the rope! Hold the rope”, I could hear the shouts. I somehow managed to get hold of the rope and pull myself forward.

Slowly, with some courage, I reached the river bank. I felt a special kind of happiness as I came out of the water. Happiness on finishing a challenging task. Now, standing on the bank, I was calling out to the others to hold the rope tightly. I knew that this confidence was a result

of facing a challenge with courage.

Rock climbing:

We had to climb 15 km to reach Tekla village. It was at a height of 1600 metres. Our rucksacks had all that we may need – food packets, water bottle, rope, hook, plastic sheet, diary, torch, towel, soap, windcheater, whistle, glucose, jaggery, chana and some other snacks.

We could see fruits and vegetables growing in the step fields. We saw Colonel Ram Singh standing on a 90 metres high flat rock with pegs and ropes.

We had been told to first observe the rock carefully and identify holds – places where we can put our hands and feet. Today I was not going to back out.

I stood first in the line. Our instructor tieda rope around his waist. He put the sling, and held the thick rope which was hanging. He started climbing as if he was running up.

I also put my sling. But as I took my first step, I slipped. And there I was – swinging from the rope! “Keep your body at an angle of 90° while

climbing,” I heard. “Keep your back straight.

Do not bend.”

Keeping this in mind, I imagined the rock as flat ground and started to climb up. Again while coming down we had to use the rope, in a special way called ‘rapling.’ I did this with the same fearlessness.

A funny incident:

It was evening. Khondonbi was feeling hungry. We did not have anything to eat. She jumped over the fence and got into a field. She quickly plucked two big cucumbers and came back.

Just then a woman came from behind and caught hold of her bag. She started saying something to Khondonbi in her own language. We could not understand what she was saying.

Khondonbi was trying to explain in her Mizolanguage which we could not understand. I tried to explain in Hindi but neither of them could understand it. Finally, I folded my hands to say that we were sorry.

By then our group had gone far ahead. It was already dark. I thought we had lost our way. Now we were really scared. We could not see anything even with our torches.

I started sweating even though it was cold. I tightly held Khondonbi’s hand. I called out loudly, “Where are you all? Can you hear me?” My voice echoed in the mountains.

We both started to whistle loudly and flashed our torches. Probably the group had noticed that we were missing. We heard some whistles at a distance. I understood the signal.

We held each other's hand tightly and waited. Khondonbi felt that we should keep talking. She started singing a Mizo song loudly. After some time, we saw them coming towards us. At last! We were with the group again.

A special guest:

After dinner we met a special guest – Bachhendri Pal. She had just been

Up You Go! 83 selected as a part of the team to climb Mount Everest. She had come to seek the blessings of Brigadier Gyan Singh. It was a happy evening – we were all singing.

Bachhendri also joined us in singing and dancing on the famous Pahadi song ‘Bedu Pako, bara masa, kafal pako chaita, meri chhaila.’ At that time we had no idea that Bachhendri would become the first Indian woman to reach Mount Everest and create history.

Camp in the snow:

We were standing at a height of 2134 meters. We were to spend the night here. Everyone was busy trying to put up the tent. We used double layered plastic sheets for the tent and for the ground.

The air between the layers would help to keep us warm. We put in the pegs and began to put up the tent. As we tied it from one side, the wind flew the tent from the other side.

After quite a lot of pulling and tugging, we managed to get the tent up. Then we dug a drain around the tent. We were feeling very hungry. We collected some firewood and stones to make a chulha and cooked some food.

After the meal, we collected all the waste in a bag to clean the camp site. Soon we got into our sleeping bags. I was not sure if I would be able to sleep in it. Would it be comfortable?

Would I not feel cold? But the bags were filled with soft feathers, which help in keeping us warm. We were all very tired. So very soon we fell asleep.

The next morning we woke up and found that it was snowing. White soft fluffy snowflakes were gently falling. Wow! It was so beautiful ! The plants, the trees, the grass and the mountains – everything looked white.

Today we were to climb higher, to 2700 metres. We walked carefully on the snow with the help of sticks. It was difficult because we kept slipping. By afternoon we had reached snow covered mountains. We enjoyed throwing snowballs at each other and making a big snowman.

Last day at camp:

We were getting ready for the camp fire. Each group presented a programme. We were enjoying – telling jokes and laughing, singing and dancing around the camp fire. Soon it was midnight.

Brigadier Gyan Singh got up and called me. I thought, “Oh, no!

what have I done this time?” But when Sir announced my name for the ‘Best Performance Award’ I stood still. He blessed me and tears of joy rolled down my face.

Alone on the mountain top

A twelve-year old girl living in the mountains was out on a school picnic. She climbed a mountain peak of 4000 metres with her friends. The girls had done this for fun and adventure. Soon it was dark and they could not come down. It was also cold and scary.

They were alone without any food and it was a long night. This happened to Bachhendri Pal, played when she was a young girl. Bachhendri grew up in Nakuri village in the Garhwal area of Uttarakhand.

When she grew older, she joined Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi. Her guide was Brigadier Gyan Singh. Bachhendri did very well in her training. She started to train women in mountaineering courses. In 1984, Bachhendri was selected as a team member to climb the Mount Everest.

Snow storm:

There were seven women in that 18 member team. On the night of 15th May the team was very tired after having reached a height of 7300 metres. The team put up their tents and went to sleep. Around midnight they heard a loud sound and then a bang.

Before they were fully awake, the tent flew off and something very heavy hit them. There was a terrible snow storm. Bachhendri was almost buried under the snow and was hurt on the head. Many of the team members were also injured. The others used snow-picks and axes to dig out those who had been buried under the snow.

The rest of the team members returned to base camp but Bachhendri went ahead, climbing slowly but steadily towards the peak. It was seven minutes past one o’clock in the afternoon of 23th May when Bachhendri Pal stepped onto the peak of 8900 metre high Mount Everest also called Sagarmatha in Nepal.

There was another team member with her. There was no space for two people to stand on the top at the same time. One slip and they would fall straight down-thousands of feet below! Bachhendri and her team-mate dug into the snow and pitched their axe firmly in the ice. Using this as a hook, they tied themselves to it with a rope.

 Only then two of them could stand there. She was shivering with cold but filled with the warmth of achievement. She bowed her head, pitched the national flag and took photographs. She spent 43 minutes on the highest peak in the world. Bachhendri Pal became the first Indian woman and the fifth woman in the world to reach the peak of Mount Everest.

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA  AKUNURI 

A TREAT FOR MOSQUITOES-TEXT

 A TREAT FOR MOSQUITOES

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-V

Mosquitoes are small, midge-like flies which comprise the family Culicidae. Females of most species are ectoparasites, whose tube-like mouthparts pierce the hosts' skin to consume blood. The word "mosquito" is Spanish for "little fly".

Mosquitoes have six legs.  They also have a head, thorax and abdomen.   Mosquitoes can't fly very far or very fast. 

The Anophelesis a malaria carrier, and the other two are known to spread various forms of encephalitis. Only female mosquitoes bite and suck the blood.  

Both male and female feed mainly on fruit and plant nectar, but the female also needs the protein in blood to help her eggs develop. Once she's had her fill of blood, she'll rest for a couple of days before laying her eggs.

Male mosquitoes indentify  females mosquitioes  by the sound of their wings.  Females can beat their wings up to 500 times per second.

Mosquitoes can smell human breatha. They have receptors on their antennae that detect the carbon dioxide released when we exhale. There are more than 3,500 species of  mosquitoes. 

 Malaria is caused by a parasite that lives in mosquitoes.  The parasite gets into mosquito saliva and is passed on when the insect bites someone. Mosquitoes are considered the deadliest “animal” in the world.  

The Anopheles mosquito, in particular, is dangerous because it transmits malaria, which kills more than one million people every year, primarily in Africa.

Blood test:

Rajat is back at school today. He had been absent for many days. “How are you now?” asked Aarti. “I’m alright,” Rajat replied softy.

Jaskirat: You must have played a lot while you were at home.

Rajat : Who wants to play when you have fever! On top of it I had to take a bitter medicine! I even had a blood test.

Jaskirat: A blood test? Why? It must have been very painful.

Rajat: Actually, when the needle pricked my finger, it felt like an ant bite. They took 2-3 drops of blood, and sent it for testing. That’s how we came to know that I had malaria.

Nancy: But you get malaria when a mosquito bites you.

Rajat: Yes, but we find out by the blood test.

Jaskirat: There are a lot of mosquitoes in my house these days, but I did not get malaria.

Nancy: Who says that every mosquito bite causes malaria? Malaria spreads only by the disease carrying mosquitoes.

Aarti: All mosquitoes look the same to me.

Rajat: There must be some difference.

Dr Maryam looking at the blood slide under the microscope. This miscroscope makes things look thousand times bigger. The details inside the blood can be seen clearly. There are some miscroscopes which make things look even more bigger  than this one.

Nancy: Did they take the blood from the place where the mosquito

had bitten you?

Rajat: Of course not! How do I know when and where the mosquito bit me?

Nancy: But how could they find out that you had malaria by your blood test? Do you think they could see something in the blood?

Medicine for Malaria

From early times, the dried and powdered bark of the Cinchona tree was used to make a medicine for malaria. Earlier people used to boil the bark powder and strain the water which was given to patients. Now tablets are made from this.

Anaemia–What’s that?

Aarti: You know, I also had to get a blood test done. But they took

a syringe full of blood. The blood test showed that I had anaemia.

Rajat: What is that?

Aarti: The doctor said that there is less ‘haemoglobin’ or iron in the blood. The doctor gave some medicines to give me strength. He also said that I should eat jaggery, amla and more green leafy vegetables, because these have iron.

Nancy: How can there be iron in our blood?

Jaskirat: There was something about this in the newspaper

yesterday.

Rajat (laughing) : So then you ate iron or what?!

Aarti: Silly! This is not the iron used to make these keys. I don’t know exactly what it was. After I ate a lot of vegetables and whatever the doctor had said, my haemoglobin went up.

Anaemia common in Delhi school -17 November, 2007 – Thousands of children studying in the Municipal Corporation schools in Delhi suffer from anaemia. This is affecting both their physical as well as mental health.

Due to anaemia, children do not grow well, and their energy levels are low. This also affects their ability to study properly. Now health check ups are being done in the schools and health cards are being made for all the children. Anaemic children are also being given iron tablets.

Baby mosquitoes

Jaskirat: There is a poster on malaria just outside our class.

Rajat: The poster says something about larvae. What are those?

Nancy: They are baby mosquitoes. But they don’t look like mosquitoes at all.

Aarti: Where did you see them?

Nancy: There was an old pot lying behind our house. It was full of water for some days. When I looked there I saw some tiny thread-like grey things swimming. I was surprised when Mummy told me that these had come out of the eggs which mosquitoes lay in water. They are called larvae. I also heard something about this on the radio.

Rajat: What did you do?

Nancy: Papa immediately threw away the water. He cleaned and dried the pot and kept it upside down, so that no water would collect.

Jaskirat: Shazia aunty told me that even flies spread diseases, especially stomach problems.

Rajat: But flies don’t bite. Then how do they spread diseases?

Survey report Some children did this survey. Here are some of their reports  We found something green around the taps in our school which is called algae. It was also slippery there. The algae spreads a lot during the rainy season. We think that they are some kind of small plants that grow in water.

There is a pond near the school. At first you cannot see the water in the pond as it is completely covered with plants. One aunty told us that t h e s e p l a n t s have grown themselves in water.

Around the pond there are pits full of water. We also saw some larvae in the water. As we moved around, lots of mosquitoes flew from the plants growing around. Jaskirat feels that there are so many mosquitoes in her house because of this dirty pond nearby.

A scientist peeps into a mosquito’s stomach

This interesting incident took place almost a hundred years ago. A

scientist found out that mosquitoes spread malaria. Let's read about

this discovery in his own words.

“My father was a general in the Indian Army. I studied to become a

doctor, but what I really liked was reading stories, writing poetry, music

Ronald Ross and drama. In my free time I enjoyed doing all this.

In those days, thousands of people used to die from a disease that we now call malaria. The disease was found in areas where there was a lot of rain, or in swampy places.

People thought that the illness was caused by some poisonous gas that came from the dirty swampy areas. They gave it the name 'malaria' which means 'bad air'.

One doctor had seen tiny germs in the blood of one of the patients, when he observed it under a microscope. But he could not understand how these had got into the patient’s blood.

My professor had some ideas about this. “I think that these may be carried by some kind of mosquito.” As his student, I spent all my time chasing mosquitoes, to catch and observe. We used to carry empty bottles and chase mosquito after mosquito.

Then we would put the mosquitoes into a mosquito net in which there was a patient of malaria. The mosquitoes would have a feast, biting these patients.

The patients were paid one anna for allowing one mosquitoe to bite them. I will always remember those days at the hospital in Secundrabad – how we used to cut open the mosquito’s stomach and peep into it.

I would spend hours and hours bent over the microscope. By night my neck would be stiff and my eyes could not see clearly! It used to be very hot but we dared not fan ourselves, as all the mosquitoes would fly off in the breeze! Once I also fell ill with malaria.

I spent months like this with the microscope, but could not find anything. One day we caught a few mosquitoes that looked different. They were brownish with spotted wings.

When I looked into the stomach of one of the female mosquitoes, I saw something black there. I looked closer. I saw that these tiny germs looked just like the ones that were found in the blood of malaria patients.

At last we had the proof! Mosquitoes did spread malaria!” In December 1902, Ronald Ross got the highest award for his discovery—the Nobel Prize for medicine. In 1905, even as he lay dying, Ross’s last words were, “I will find something, I will find something new.”

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA AKUNURI

EXPERIMENTS WITH WATER-TEXT

EXPERIMENTS WITH WATER

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-V

What floats – what sinks?

Ayesha was waiting for dinner. Today Ammi was making her favourite food – puri and spicy potatoes. Ayesha watched as her mother rolled out the puri and put it in the hot oil. She saw that at first the puri sank to the

bottom of the pan.

As it puffed up, the puri came up and started floating on the oil. One puri did not puff up and did not float like the others. On seeing this, Ayesha took some dough and rolled it into a ball. She flattened it and put it in

a bowl of water.  Alas! it sank to the bottom and stayed there.

In the evening Ayesha went for a bath. She had just come out when her mother called, “Ayesha, you have dropped the soap in the water again.

Take it out and put it in the soap case.” Ayesha was in a hurry and the soap case fell out of her hands. It started floating on water. Ayesha

gently put the soap in the soap case. She saw that the case continued to float, even with the soap in it.

A wooden boat in water will float. But a needle will sink! Why does this happen?

Let me think... An iron ship will also float, though its’ much heavier

than my boat!

Archimedes' Principle of Buoyancy:

Archimedes' principle indicates that the upward  buoyant force that is exerted on a body immersed in a  fluid, whether fully or partially submerged, is equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces.

Because The reason that a ship floats is that it displaces a lot of water. The displaced water wants to return to it's original location, where the ship is now, and this pushes the ship upwards. The force which pushes the ship up is called the buoyancy force.

Archimedes continued to do more experiments and came up with a buoyancy principle, that a ship will float when the weight of the water it displaces equals the weight of the ship and anything will float if it is shaped to displace its own weight of water before it reaches the point where it will submerge.

This is kind of a technical way of looking at it. A ship that is launched sinks into the sea until the weight of the water it displaces is equal to its own weight. As the ship is loaded, it sinks deeper, displacing more water, and so the magnitude of the buoyant force continuously matches the weight of the ship and its cargo.

But a needle, light as a leaf, thin as a pin, will sink right in! Why does this happen?

The density of nail (as of iron) is much larger than the water. So it sinks easily. The weight of the water displaced by the ship is equal to its weight, so it floats. Whereas the weight of the water displaced by the iron nail is less than its weight so the iron nail sinks.

Have you seen that some thing float on water while others sink? Think how this happens! The poem here raises such questions.

Dead Sea:

All oceans and seas have salty water. The saltiest of all is the Dead Sea. How salty? Imagine 300 grams of salt in one litre of water! Would you be able to even taste such salty water? It would be very bitter.

Interestingly, even if a person does not know how to swim, she would not drown in this sea. She will float in water, as if lying down on it!

Remember the lemon you floated in salty water?

What dissolved, what did not?

On Sunday Ayesha’s cousin brother Hamid came to her house

to play. As soon as he came he asked his aunt to make his favourite shakkarpara (a sweet dish).

Ammi said, “Let me come back from the market, then I will make some for you. Why don’t you help me? Take two glasses of water and put a bowl of sugar in it. Mix it till it dissolves.” Hamid thought, “Let me

finish this work fast. Then I will watch TV”.

Dandi March:

This incident took place in 1930, before India became independent. For many years the British had made a law that did not allow people to make salt themselves.

They had also put a heavy tax on salt. By this law people could not

make salt even for use at home. “How can anybody live without salt?” Gandhiji said, “How can a law not allow us to use freely what nature has given!” Gandhiji, with several other people, went on a yatra (long walk) from Ahmedabad to the Dandi seashore in Gujarat, to protest against

this law.

Do you know how salt is made? The sea water is collected in shallow beds dug in the sand. Water is allowed to dry in the sun. After

the water dries the salt remains on the ground.

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA AKUNURI

EVER DROP COUNT-TEXT

EVER DROP COUNT

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-V

Long Long Ago:

This is a picture of Ghadsisar. Sar means a lake. King Ghadsi of Jaisalmer got it made 650 years ago with the help of the people.

All around the lake there are ghats with steps leading to the water, decorated verandahs, large halls, rooms and much more. People came here to celebrate festivals and for programmes of music and dance.

Children came to study in the school on the ghat. The talab belonged to everyone and everyone took care to keep it clean.

Rainwater collected in this lake spread over many miles. It was made in such a way that when the lake was full, the extra water flowed into another lake at a lower level.

When that too filled up, the extra water flowed into the third lake and so on  filling nine such interconnected lakes. The collected rain water could be used throughout the year and there was no shortage of water.

Today, Ghadsisar is no more in use. Many new buildings and colonies have come up in between those nine lakes. Now the water does not get collected in these lakes but just flows away and is wasted.

Through the eyes of Al-Biruni :

One of the most famous of the historic accounts of India is that written in Arabic by al-Biruni nearly a thousand years ago. 

Al-Biruni is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed  in   physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural science, and also distinguished himself as a chronologist, historian, and linguistic.

He spent a large part of his life time in  ghazni in modern-day Afghanistan and the capital city of the   ghaznavid dynasty.which was based in what is now central-eastern Afghanistan.

In 1017 he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and authored “Tarikh Al-Hind” -History of India,  after exploring the Hindu faith practised in India. He is given the titles the "founder of indology ".

More than a thousand years ago, a traveller came to India.The place that he came from is now called Uzbekistan.

Al-Biruni carefully observed and noted down the details of all that he saw. He wrote especially about those things that he found very different from his own country. Here is a part of what he wrote about the ponds of that time. The people here are very skilled at making ponds. My countrymen would be surprised to see them. They pile up huge

rocks and join them with iron rods to build chabutaras (raised platforms) all around the lake. Between these, there are rows of long staircases, going up and down.

The steps for going up and coming down are separate. So there is less crowding. Today when we study history, we can learn a lot about those days from the writings of Al-Biruni. (This stamp came out in 1973, one

thousand years after his birth.)

Drop-by-drop:

Jaipur is the capital and largest city of the state of Rajasthan, India. Jaipur became the capital of Rajasthan after Independence in 1956.

Jaipur is currently experiencing growing water scarcity and diminishing drinking water sources, relying extensively on groundwater and a single surface water source, the Bisalpur Dam, which is shared with Ajmer and villages in the Tonk District and located 120 kilometers southwest of Jaipur.

Scorching heat coupled with water crisis has made life very difficult for people in Rajasthan. In at least 24 many cities and towns of the state including Barmer, Jalore, Makrana, Rajgarh, Balotra water is being supplied only once in four days.

Camels are being used to pull water tankers instead of ferrying people. At every boring well in the state rows of camels with water tanks are seen.

Besides Jaisalmer, many places in Rajasthan, get very little rainfall. Here it rains for only ten to twelve days in the entire year, sometimes not even that much. The rivers here do not have water in them all round the year.

And yet, most of the villages in these areas did not have a shortage of water. People knew that every drop of water was precious. Lakes and johads were made to collect these precious drops of water.

Water was everyone’s need. One and all came together in this work – be it a businessman or a labourer. Some water from the lakes soaked into the ground and reached the wells and bavdis

(stepwell) in that area.

The soil of the area also became wet and fertile. Every house had a system to collect the rain water. Look at this picture.

How do you think the rainwater that falls on the roof will reach the

underground tank?

Draw the path:

Have you ever seen a stepwell? Look at the picture. Can you imagine by looking at the picture that the steps go down several storeys deep?

Instead of drawing the water up from the well, the people could go down the steps and reach the water. That is why they are called stepwells.

Long ago, people used to make long journeys with their caravans of animals and goods. People felt it was a good thing to give water to thirsty travellers. Thus, they built many beautiful stepwells.

Customs related to water:

Even today people get water from very old lakes, dharas, stepwells and naulas. Many customs and festivals are related to water.

At some places, whenever lakes get filled up with rainwater, the people

gather around the lake to celebrate.

See the bride of Uttarakhand in this picture. After getting married she has come to the new village. She bows to the spring or the pond. In cities

one can see an interesting form of this custom.

The new bride worships the tap in her home. Can we even imagine life

without water? Devraj

Think over it:

In 1986, there was no rain in Jodhpur and the surrounding areas. People remembered the old and forgotten stepwell (baoli). They cleaned the stepwell and more than two hundred trucks of garbage was taken out of it. People of the area collected money.

The thirsty town got water from the stepwell. After a few years it rained well and again the stepwell was forgotten.

There are two old wells in the area where Punita lives. Her grandmother says that about fifteen - twenty years ago there was water in these wells. The wells could have dried up because:

Water is being pumped up from under the ground, with the help of electric motors.

The lakes in which rain water used to collect are no longer there. The soil around trees and parks is now covered with cement.

This is how we get water:

A Jal Board water tanker comes to our colony twice a day. We have to stand in a long queue to get water from the tanker. People at times We fill water from the well.

The nearby well dried up a year ago. Now we have to walk far to reach the other well.

We are not allowed to take water from some of the wells because of our caste. have fights over water. We get water at home for half an hour. We fill this in the tank to use all day. Sometime it is dirty.

We get water from our taps, all day long.

We have put a pump directly in the Jal Board pipeline. Now we don't have any problem! We have put a motor to pump up the water from the borewell. But there is no electricity, so what do we do!

There is a handpump nearby, but the water that we get from it is salty. We have to buy water for drinking.

We get water from the canal itself.

It can be done:

There are some groups that work hard to bring water to the people of different areas. They ask the elders about the water arrangement in their times.

They rebuild the old lakes and johads, and also build new ones. Let us see how the group called Tarun Bharat Sangh helped Darki Mai. This is Darki Mai. She lives in a village in the Alwar district of

Rajasthan.

The women of the village used to spend the entire day looking after their home and animals. Sometimes, it took them all night to pull water from the well for the animals. In the summer, when the wells dried up, they had to leave the village.

Darki Mai heard about this group and asked for help. Together, the people from the group and the village decided to make a lake. The problem of food and water for animals is now less. People get more milk. They have started earning more.

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA AKUNURI