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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

SEEDS AND SEEDS-TEXT

SEEDS AND SEEDS

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-V

Children in these lesson we are going to learn about seed germination and dispersal of seeds.

Gopal was waiting for his mausi’s family to visit them. They will be coming the next day for their holidays. He was thinking about all the fun and nice food that he would have with his cousins.

Just then his mother called out, “Gopal, before you sleep, remember to soak two small bowls (katoris) of chana (gram).” She was going to his Bua’s house and would return only in the morning.

As he was soaking the chana, Gopal thought, “How will two small bowls of this be enough for eight persons?” So he soaked another two bowls of chana.

When his mother returned the next morning, she saw that the chana were overflowing from the vessel. “How much did you soak?” asked his mother. “How did that happen!” wondered Gopal.

“You soaked too much! Anyway it is good, now I will cook half of them, and leave the other half to sprout. I can send these to your aunt. The doctor has told her to eat sprouts”, mother said. She tied half of the soaked chana in a wet cloth, and hung them up to sprout.

Let us see about seed germination:

Growing plants from seeds:

Children if u eat an apple or an orange you will fine deeds inside. New plants can grow from these seeds.

Not all seeds grow into new plants . some seeds are eaten up by birds and insects. Some seeds get destroyed by the rain or wind. If seeds get sufficient amount of air, water, warmth it grows in to new plant .

 A seed producing a new bady plant  or seedling . this process we called as seed germination.

During the early stages of germination , the sedling gets the foods which ift requires for its growth from the cotyledous. The food which stored in cotyledous has been used up the seedling gets its food from the soil.

The seddlings absorbs water and nutrients from the soil with the help of its roots. The it develops new leaves and grows in to a new abay plant.

Now it requires air for seed germination. The air reaches the seed through pores in the soil. That is why soil is so important for plants growth.

Afte they germinate, they will struggle for air, water, light, nutrients and the space to grow. As a result, many of them would die.

Structure of seed:

Children have you seen a bean or a gram seed. It is hard and cannot be broken easily. The hard outer covering layer is alled the seed coat. The seed coat protects the sed.

 The seed has two cotyledons. These are special seed leaves which protect baby plant or embryo. They also store food for the embryo.

Seeds like grmas, beans and peas have two cotyledons while seeds like wheat and corn have only one cotyledon.

Let us see about seed dispersal:

Seed Dispersal: The process by which seeds are scattered away from the mother  plant is called dispersal.

Seed Dispersal By Water: some plants of seeds like lotus and coconut are spongy in nature or they have a fibrous covering, on they outer surface. This help them to float on water easily. Water carries these seeds easily from one place to another. this type if dispersal is called as Seed Dispersal by water.

Example: lotus, coconut and water lilly.

Seed Dispersal By Wind: some seeds of certain plants are very light in weight and have wing-like structures or hair on them. These type of seeds can easily carried away by the wind from one place to another place. This type if dispersal is called as Seed Dispersal by wind.

Examples: Plants like cotton, dandelion and madar.

Seed Dispersal By Explosion: the fruits of some plants just like poppy, pea and bean. These fruits can burst and open when they ripe, scattering the seeds in all directions . this type if dispersal is called as Seed Dispersal by explosion.

Examples: fruits like pea and balsam.

Seed Dispersal By Animals: some plants cocklebur seeds have spine or hooks on their body. These seeds stick to the bodies of animals and birds. So they carried away from the mother plant. this type if dispersal is called as Seed Dispersal by animals.

Examples: plants like xanthium,tigernailsma and spear grass.

These are the various types of dispersal of seeds which grows in to a new baby plant.

A SMALL STORY:

This happened in 1948. One day George Mestral came back from a walk with his dog. He was amazed to find seeds sticking all over his clothes and on his dog’s fur. He wondered what made them stick. So he observed these seeds under a microscope. He saw that the seeds had many tiny hooks which got stuck to clothes or fur. This gave Mestral the idea of making Velcro. He made a material with similar tiny hooks that

would stick. Velcro is used to stick together many things – clothes, shoes, bags, belts and many more. What a way to take inspiration from nature!

Who came from where:

Have you included human beings also in your list? Yes, we also carry seeds from one place to another, knowingly or unknowingly. We bring the seeds of plants that we find beautiful or useful, to grow them in our garden.

Later the seeds of these plants spread to other places. Many years later people may not even remember that these plants did not grow here earlier. They were brought from somewhere else. Here some of the seeds they dispersal from one place to another

Do you know from where chillies came to our country? These were brought to India by traders coming from South America. Today we cannot think of food without chillies!

From South America long ago, came a tomato, a potato, and a green chilli. Do you know this?

A cabbage came from Europe, and also a pea. From Africa came a coffee bean, and a green bhindi.

A mango sang, ‘Come in! Come in!’ An orange smiled inside its skin. ‘Welcome to India,’ a banana said. the methi and spinach, brinjal and radish, nodded its head.

Pants from sopres:

Some plants like fren, fungi and moss do not have flowers. So, they do not not produce seeds. They produce tiny spores. This spores develops into new baby plant.

Plants grow different body parts;

Some plants grow from the body parts of the parent plant. The method of obtaining new plants from the leaves, stem and roots of the parent plant is called vegetative propagation.

Plants like potato and ginger have eyes on them. Under suitable conditions they grow in to a bud from new baby plant growa.

Onion and ginge plants also grow from their underground bulb –shaped stems.

Plants like bryophyllum, gorws from the edges of leaves buds.

Some plants grows from buds on the stem examples rose hibiscus, sugarcane etc.

THANKYOU,

NANDITHA AKUNURI 

FROM TASTING TO DIGESTING-TEXT

FROM TASTING TO DIGESTING

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

CBSE-V

Different tastes:

Taste buds are sensory organs that are found on yourTONGUE and allow you to experience tastes that are sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. How exactly do your taste buds work? Well, stick out your tongue and look in the mirror.

Taste buds contain the receptors for taste. They are located around the small structures on the upper surface of the tongue, soft palate, upper esophagus, the cheek, epiglottis, which are called papillae. The myth of the tongue map; that 1 tastes bitter, 2 tastes sour, 3 tastes salt, and 4 tastes sweet.

Jhumpa ran into the kitchen and caught hold of her mother saying, “Ma, I am not going to eat this bitter karela (bittergourd). Give me gur (jaggery) and roti.”

 Ma smiled and said, “You ate roti and sugar in the morning.” Jhoolan teased Jhumpa, “Don’t you get bored of only one kind of taste?” Jhumpa replied quickly, “Do you get bored with licking imli (tarmarind)? I bet your mouth is watering just by hearing the word imli.”

 “Sure I love the sour imli. But I eat sweet and salty things too. I even eat karela,” said Jhoolan and looked at her mother.

They both laughed heartily. Jhoolan said to Jhumpa, “Let’s play a game. You close your eyes and open your mouth. I will put something to eat in your mouth. You have to tell what it is.”

Jhoolan took a few drops of lemon juice in a spoon and put them in Jhumpa’s mouth. “Sour lemon,” Jhumpa replied quickly.

Jhoolan then picked up a small piece of jaggery. Her mother suggested, “Crush it, otherwise she will know what it is?” Jhoolan crushed the jaggery but Jhumpa easily guessed it.

They played the game with different food items. Jhumpa could tell the fried fish even before tasting it. Jhoolan said, “Now close your nose, and tell me what this is?” Jhumpa was confused, “It is a bit bitter, a little salty and somewhat sour.

Give me one more spoonful.” Jhoolan took another spoonful of the cooked karela, uncovered Jhumpa’s eyes, and said, “Here it is, eat!” Jhumpa laughed, “Yes, give me more.”

Nitu was given a glucose drip:

Nitu was very sick. All day she was vomiting and she also had loose motions. Whatever she ate, she vomited. Her father gave her sugar and salt solution. By evening Nitu was feeling weak and dizzy. When she got up to go to the doctor she fainted.

Her father had to carry her to the doctor. The doctor said that Nitu should get admitted in the hospital. She needs to be given a glucose drip. Hearing this, Nitu got confused. She knew that during the games period in school, the teacher sometimes gave them glucose to drink.

But what was a glucose drip? Doctor aunty explained, “Your stomach is

upset. Your body is not keeping any food and water and it has become very weak. The glucose drip will give you some strength quickly, even without eating.”

Story – A Stomach with a Window:

In the poem, you read about a soldier called Martin. In 1822, he was eighteen years old and was very healthy. When he was shot, he got seriously hurt. At that time Dr. Beaumont was called to treat him.

Dr. Beaumont cleaned the wound and put the dressing. After one and a half years, the doctor found that Martin’s wound had healed except for one thing.

He had a big hole in his stomach. The hole was covered with a loose flap of skin, like the washer in a football. Press the skin and you could peep into Martin’s stomach! Not only that, the doctor could also take out food from the stomach by putting a tube in the hole.

Dr. Beaumont felt he had found a treasure. Can you guess how much time he spent on doing different experiments on this stomach?

Nine years! During this time Martin grew up and got married. At that time scientists did not know how food was digested? How does the liquid (digestive juices) in the stomach help? Does it only help in making the food wet and soft? Or does it also help in digestion?

Dr. Beaumont took some liquid (juices) out of the stomach. He wanted to see what would happen to a food item kept in a glass filled with it. Would it get digested on its own? For this he did an experiment. With the help of a tube, he took out some digestive juice from the stomach.

At 8.30am he put twenty tiny pieces of boiled fish in 10 millilitres of the juice. He kept the glass at the same temperature as that of our stomach – about 30°C. When he checked at 2 pm he found that the pieces of fish had dissolved.

Dr. Beaumont tried this experiment with different food items. He gave Martin the same food at the same time and then compared how long it took for food to be digested in the glass and in Martin’s stomach. He recorded his observations in a table.

TABLE:

So, what does our stomach do? Dr. Beaumont did many experiments and found out many secrets about digestion. He found that food digests faster in the stomach than outside. Did you notice this in the table?

Our stomach churns the food to digest it. The doctor also saw that the food did not digest properly when Martin was sad. He also found that the juice in our stomach is acidic. Have you heard of anyone talking about acidity -especially when that person has not eaten well or the food is not digested properly.

Dr. Beaumont’s experiments became famous across the world. After this many scientists did many such experiments. What did you say? No, they did not shoot people in the stomach. Nor did they wait for a patient with a hole in the stomach. They used other scientific ways to look inside our bodies.

 Children Did you like the story of Martin or, should we say, the story of our own stomach?

THANK YOU,

NANDITHA AKUNURI