NCERT Solutions Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country

F R E E S T U D Y M AT E R I A L F O R E V E R Y S T U D E N T

CLASS 5 · THE WORLD AROUND US

NCERT Solutions

Chapter 5: Our Vibrant Country

NCERT Textbook — Our Wondrous World

BOOK PAGES SECTIONS QUESTIONS MEDIUM

75 – 93 16 29 English

Solutions, notes, sample papers & more at 41 pages

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

CLASS 5 · THE WORLD AROUND US · OUR WONDROUS WORLD

NCERT Solutions — Chapter 5: Our Vibrant Country
Chapter 5 of Our Wondrous World opens Unit 3, Incredible India. It begins with a Republic Day morning in
school — the flag going up, the drums, the National Anthem — and then goes looking for India in everyday
things: a currency note, the National Emblem, the tiger and the peacock, the many languages we speak,
the headgear people wear, our drums, music and dances, and the spirit of togetherness that holds it all. The
chapter carries 7 Activities, four Write sets, one Discuss, a Find out, a Draw task and the closing Let us
reflect set of 7 items. There is no separate exercise at the end — the questions are spread through the
chapter.

TEXTBOOK BOOK PAGES

Our Wondrous World (Class 5) 75 – 93

SECTIONS QUESTIONS

16 29

MEDIUM

English

Write — Pages 76–78
A Special Day in School

WRITE

Q1 What special events or activities take place at your school on the occasion of
Republic Day?

On Republic Day our school holds a flag ceremony, sings the National Anthem, and then
puts on a cultural programme. Most schools in India follow the same order.
Here is how the morning usually goes.

1. Everyone reaches school early and stands in lines around the flagpole.
2. The folded flag is already tied at the top of the pole. The ground around it is decorated with
flowers.
3. The head teacher pulls the rope and the tricolour unfurls — that means it opens out. Flower
petals fall from inside the fold.
4. All of us stand straight and sing the National Anthem together.
5. The head teacher gives a short speech about the Constitution and about our duties.
6. Then comes the cultural programme — patriotic songs, a group dance, a march past, a short
play, a poem.
7. Some schools also hold a drawing or essay competition, and give away prizes.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

8. Sweets or laddoos are given out at the end.

PART OF THE WHAT HAPPENS WHY WE DO IT
DAY

Flag ceremony The tricolour is unfurled to the sound of drums To show respect for our country
and claps

National Anthem Everyone sings together, standing still It joins the whole school in one
voice

Speech The teacher speaks about the Constitution So we understand what the day
means

Cultural Songs, dances and plays from different states It shows the variety of India
programme

Prizes and sweets Winners are called up; sweets are shared A shared celebration

Write about your own school: Name the person who unfurled the flag, one item
your class performed, and one thing you liked best. Two or three sentences are
enough.

Q2 We sing the National Anthem together on this day! Can you name some rivers and
mountain ranges mentioned in the National Anthem? Fill in the table given below.

RIVERS MOUNTAIN RANGES

The table printed on page 77, blank as in the book.

Sing the second line of the anthem slowly and listen: Punjab Sindhu Gujarat Maratha, Dravida
Utkala Banga, Vindhya Himachala Yamuna Ganga… The names are hidden right there.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

RIVERS MOUNTAIN RANGES

Sindhu (the Indus) Vindhya (the Vindhya hills)

Yamuna Himachala (the Himalaya)

Ganga —

Rivers — Sindhu, Yamuna, Ganga

Mountain ranges — Vindhya, Himachala (Himalaya)

One more word in the same line is Uchchala Jaladhi taranga. Jaladhi means the sea, and
taranga means waves. So the anthem also names the sea — but the sea is not a river.

Why the anthem names them: Rabindranath Tagore, who wrote Jana Gana Mana,
wanted one short song to hold the whole country. So he named regions from every
side — Punjab and Sindh in the north-west, Gujarat and Maratha in the west,
Dravida in the south, Utkala (Odisha) and Banga (Bengal) in the east — and then the
great hills and rivers that all of them share.

Did you know? Jana Gana Mana was first sung on 27 December 1911. It was
adopted as our National Anthem on 24 January 1950, two days before the first
Republic Day. Singing it takes about 52 seconds.

Q3 On Republic Day, which activities would you like to participate in?

Choose one thing you can actually do well, and one thing you would like to try. Any of
these is a good answer, as long as you say why.

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IF YOU LIKE… YOU COULD TAKE PART IN WHAT YOU WOULD NEED TO DO

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Singing The patriotic song choir Learn the words by heart and practise

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Marching The march past
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Speaking
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Sample answer: I would like to take part in the group song. I know all the words of Saare Jahan
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Have you ever watched the Republic Day parade in Delhi on television? What did
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every 26 January. Here is what you see, in the order it comes.
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forces and the police, each in its own uniform, marching to a band.

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4. Then come the tanks, missile carriers and the camel contingent of the Border Security Force.

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5. Then the state tableaux — decorated floats. Each one shows the life and culture of one
state or department.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

6. School children perform folk dances from many states.
7. The motorcycle riders do their balancing display.
8. At the end, fighter aircraft roar overhead in the fly-past, trailing saffron, white and green
smoke.

Sample answer: I liked the state tableaux the most. Each float was like a small moving story —
one had a boat race, one had a big handloom, one had a temple. In ten minutes I saw pieces of
the whole country going past. I also liked the fly-past at the end, when the jets flew so low that
the sound came after them.

Why the parade matters: On one road, in about two hours, the country puts
together its soldiers, its farmers, its artists and its school children. It is a way of
saying that all of them belong to the same India.

Did you know? The Republic Day celebrations end on 29 January with Beating
Retreat, when the massed bands play in the evening and the lights come on at
Raisina Hill.

Activity 1 — Page 78
Your state tableau

ACTIVITY

Q1 Discuss and list down the various items of your state tableau. Make a poster or a
model of it.

A tableau is a decorated truck or float that shows one state's life and culture in a single
picture. The word for it in Hindi is jhanki. Look at the picture on page 78 — the children have
made one out of a carton, with a mountain, a waterfall, small clay figures and toy animals on it.
Step 1 — Decide the theme. Pick one idea only, or the float becomes crowded. Examples: our
harvest festival, our river, our handloom, our famous monument.
Step 2 — List the items to put on it. Use these six headings. Fill the last column with what is
true for your own state.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHAT TO EXAMPLE — RAJASTHAN EXAMPLE — KERALA MY
SHOW STATE

Landscape or Sand dunes and a fort wall Backwaters and coconut _______
landmark palms

Traditional dress Ghagra-choli and odhni; men in a Kasavu saree with a gold _______
colourful safa border; mundu

Dance or music Ghoomar dancers; a nagara drum Mohiniyattam; a chenda _______
drum

Festival Teej, Gangaur Onam, with the boat race _______

Craft or work Block printing, blue pottery Coir making, houseboats _______

Food Dal-baati-churma Sadya served on a banana _______
leaf

Step 3 — Build the model.

1. Take a shoebox or a carton. Turn it on its side. This is the truck bed.
2. Cut four wheels from a thick card and fix them with split pins or glue.
3. Paint a backdrop on a card and stand it at the back — hills, a river, a temple.
4. Make the figures from clay, matchsticks, cloth scraps and bottle caps. Keep them small.
5. Put the tallest thing at the back and the smallest in front, so nothing is hidden.
6. Write your state's name in big letters on the side, in your own language and in English.

Step 4 — Say it in one line. Every good tableau has one sentence that explains it. For example:
Odisha — the land of the Sun Temple and the Konark wheel.

Why tableaux are used: A float is faster than a speech. In the few seconds a tableau
takes to pass, a watcher sees a state's clothes, dance, work and festival all together,
and remembers them as one picture.

Use waste: Old cartons, newspaper for papier-mâché, bottle caps for wheels, ice-
cream sticks for fences, cloth scraps for clothes. Nothing new needs to be bought.

Write — Page 79

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Independence Day in school

WRITE

Q1 What events take place at your school on the Independence Day?

On 15 August our school hoists the flag, sings the National Anthem, and holds a
programme about the freedom struggle.
What happens, step by step.

1. Everyone gathers in the ground in lines, in school uniform.
2. The chief guest or the head teacher hoists the flag — that is, pulls it up from the bottom of
the pole to the top. (On Republic Day the flag is already at the top and is only unfurled. That
is the difference between the two days.)
3. The National Anthem is sung by everyone together.
4. A short speech remembers the freedom fighters — Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Rani
Lakshmibai, Subhas Chandra Bose and many whose names we do not know.
5. Students give patriotic songs, poems, speeches and a play about the freedom struggle.
6. Some schools hold a march past, a drawing competition or a tree-planting.
7. Sweets are given out, and often the whole school raises the slogan Jai Hind.

INDEPENDENCE DAY — 15 REPUBLIC DAY — 26 JANUARY
AUGUST

What we remember India became free from British rule in Our Constitution came into force in
1947 1950

The flag Hoisted — pulled up the pole Unfurled — already at the top, opened
out

Main national At the Red Fort, Delhi On Kartavya Path, Delhi
ceremony

Why we still celebrate it: Freedom was not a gift. Many people gave years of their
lives, and some gave their lives, so that India could take its own decisions. The day is
our thank-you to them.

Activity 2 — Page 79

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Rules in our school

ACTIVITY

Q1 Write down five rules that are followed at your school. If you were to make one new
rule, what would it be?

A rule is not a punishment. A rule is an agreement that keeps everyone safe and gives everyone
a fair turn. Here are five rules most schools follow, with the reason for each.

# RULE WHY THIS RULE EXISTS

1 Come to school on time, in clean uniform. The class can begin together and nobody
misses the start.

2 Walk in a line on the stairs and in the corridor. Nobody gets pushed and hurt in a crowd.

3 Throw waste only in the dustbin, and keep the A clean school keeps everyone healthy.
classroom clean.

4 Raise your hand before speaking; listen when Everyone gets a turn and everyone is heard.
someone else is speaking.

5 Do not damage school property or another child's The school belongs to all of us, so all of us
things. look after it.

One new rule I would make:
Sample answer: I would make this rule — every class will keep a bottle-filling and a plant-watering
duty by turn, and nobody will leave a tap running. One monitor from each class would check the
taps at lunch and report a leak the same day.
Why I chose it. Water gets wasted in school every day without anyone noticing. A rule with a
turn and a name attached to it works, because then it is somebody's job and not just a good
idea.

The big idea behind this activity: A country is like a very large school. India also
needed a set of agreed rules so that everyone is safe and treated fairly. That set of
rules is our Constitution, and we began to follow it on 26 January 1950.

Make it a good rule: A good rule is short, it is the same for everybody, it says what
to do rather than only what not to do, and someone can actually check it.

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Activity 3 — Page 80
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Finding India in Currency Notes
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ACTIVITY

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Take any Indian currency note and observe it carefully. Then, fill in the table below.
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WHAT TO OBSERVE a WHAT YOU FOUND

Value of the note
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The note pictured on page 80 is a ten-rupee note. Here is the table filled in for it. If you take a

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different note, only the value, colour and monument change — everything else stays the same.

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WHAT TO OBSERVE WHAT YOU FOUND (₹10 NOTE)

Value of the note ₹10 — ten rupees. It is written in figures and in words, in Hindi and in English.

Colour of the note Chocolate brown

Number of languages 17 in all — Hindi and English on the front, and 15 more in the language panel on the
back

Languages written on Front: Hindi, then English. Back panel, in this order: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati,
the note and their Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit,
order Tamil, Telugu, Urdu.

Name of the The Sun Temple of Konark, in Odisha — you can see its great stone wheel
monument

Symbols seen on the The rupee symbol ₹; the National Emblem (three lions on a round base); the round
note spectacles of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan; the Reserve Bank of India seal; the
Governor's signature

Image of animals The lions of the National Emblem. On the round base below the lions there is also a
which could be found horse and a bull. The Konark carving on the back has animals in it too.

Any message written The guarantee line — I promise to pay the bearer the sum of ten rupees — signed by
on the note the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Beside the spectacles is the Swachh
Bharat line, Ek kadam swachhata ki aur (a step towards cleanliness).

Anything else Mahatma Gandhi's portrait; a second, smaller Gandhi that appears only when you
hold the note up to the light (the watermark); the year of printing; the note's serial
number; raised printing so that a person who cannot see can feel the note

How to look at your own note, step by step:

1. Put the note flat on the desk, front up. Read the value in figures and in words.
2. Find the three lions. That is the National Emblem.
3. Turn it over. Find the picture of the monument, and the panel of small scripts.
4. Count the languages in the panel. Do not forget Hindi and English on the front.
5. Now hold the note up towards a window or a lamp and look through it. A second Gandhi
appears, and so does the number of the note.
6. Run your thumb over the front. The raised bits are for people who cannot see.

Why so many languages on one small note: A note travels everywhere. A note
printed in Delhi may be spent in Kerala the next month. Printing the value in
seventeen languages is a way of saying that the note — and the country — belongs
to everyone equally.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Did you know? The MANI app (Mobile Aided Note Identifier) was made by the
Reserve Bank of India. A person who cannot see points a phone camera at a note,
and the app says the value aloud and makes the phone vibrate.

Activity 4 — Page 82
Design an emblem for your school

ACTIVITY

Q1 Design an emblem for your school. Think of the message you want to convey by
using symbols, words, shapes and colours to make it special.

An emblem is a small picture that says a big thing without words. Look at the National
Emblem on page 82 first — three lions on a round base, with the Ashoka Chakra below. Nothing
is there by accident. The lions mean strength, courage and confidence.
Step 1 — Decide your message. One sentence only. For example: Our school helps every child
grow.
Step 2 — Choose a shape. A circle means togetherness. A shield means protection. An open
book means learning.
Step 3 — Choose two or three symbols, and know what each one means.

SYMBOL WHAT IT SAYS

Open book Learning — the main work of a school

Lamp or a rising sun Knowledge, and a new beginning each day

Tree with deep roots Growing slowly and standing firm

Two joined hands Helping each other; every child belongs

A local bird, tree or river This school belongs to this place

Step 4 — Choose colours, and give each a reason. Green for growth. Blue for calm and for
water. Yellow for the sun and for cheer. Use only three colours; more than three looks noisy.
Step 5 — Add a short motto. Three or four words, in your own language or in English, written
on a ribbon below the shape.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A sample school emblem

Learn · Care · Grow

A circle for togetherness, an open book for learning, a sun for a fresh start, and a motto on a ribbon.

Sample answer — my emblem. A green circle. Inside it, an open book with a small sun rising
behind it, and a blue line of water below. The motto on the ribbon says Learn · Care · Grow. The
circle means we all belong to one school. The book means learning. The sun means a fresh start
every morning. The water line is for the canal beside our school, so anyone can tell at once
which school it is.

Check your design: Can it be drawn in one colour on the school gate? Can it still be
read when it is very small, on a badge? A good emblem passes both tests.

Write — Page 83

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Riddles — guess the national symbols

WRITE

Q1 I wear orange with black stripes bold, / I walk in the forest, deep and old. / With a
mighty roar, I rule the land, / Guess who I am, strong and grand? — National animal
of India

Answer: the tiger — the Royal Bengal Tiger. It is the National Animal of India.

LINE OF THE RIDDLE THE CLUE IN IT

I wear orange with black stripes bold The tiger's orange coat with black stripes

I walk in the forest, deep and old Tigers live in thick forests and in mangroves

With a mighty roar, I rule the land The tiger is the top hunter of the Indian forest

Strong and grand It stands for the strength of our country

Why the tiger was chosen: The tiger is found in almost every kind of Indian forest
— the snowy foothills, the dry teak forests, the hot Western Ghats and the salty
Sundarbans. Choosing it as the National Animal was also a promise to protect it.
Project Tiger began in 1973, and India now has more than fifty tiger reserves.

No two are alike: Every tiger has its own pattern of stripes, just as every person has
their own fingerprints. Forest officers photograph the stripes to tell one tiger from
another.

Q2 I dance in the rain in the morning light, / With green and blue feathers bright. /
With a crown upon my head, I stand so tall, / It is a joy to watch when I move my
tail. — National bird of India

Answer: the peacock — the Indian peafowl. It is the National Bird of India.

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LINE OF THE RIDDLE THE CLUE IN IT

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I dance in the rain in the morning light
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The peacock spreads its tail and dances when rain clouds come

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With green and blue feathers bright
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Why the peacock was chosen: It is found all over India, in villages, fields and

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forests. It appears in our old stories, in temple carvings and in folk paintings, and
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Discuss — Page 83
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If we had to choose a national fruit for our country, which one would you suggest?

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The mango. It is already recognised as India's National Fruit, and it is a good choice for

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1. It grows nearly everywhere in India. From Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to Maharashtra,
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Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, mango trees grow in almost every state.

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3. It has been with us for a very long time. The mango appears in our old poems and stories,

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4. Every part of it is used. The raw fruit goes into pickle, chutney and aam panna. The ripe
fruit is eaten fresh oramade

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

IF SOMEONE IN YOUR THE ARGUMENT FOR IT THE ARGUMENT AGAINST
GROUP SUGGESTS… IT

Banana Available all year, cheap, and every It grows well only in warm, wet
part of the plant is used regions, not everywhere

Jackfruit Very large, very nutritious, and it is It is grown mainly in the south
the state fruit of Kerala and the north-east

Coconut Useful in a hundred ways It grows mostly along the coasts

Apple Loved by everyone It grows only in the cold hills

How to judge any suggestion: ask three questions about it. Does it grow in most
parts of India? Do people across the country know it and use it? Does it appear in
our stories, songs and festivals? The fruit that answers yes to all three is the
strongest choice — and that is the mango.

For the discussion: Let each child name one fruit and give one reason. Then vote.
Notice how the reasons — not the vote — are the interesting part.

Find out — Page 83
Symbols of your state

FIND OUT

Q1 States also have some symbols. With the help of your teacher, find out the following
symbols of your state. State animal : ______ State bird : ______ State tree : ______ State
flower : ______

Every state and union territory of India has chosen its own state animal, bird, tree and
flower — usually something that is special to that place. Ask your teacher, or look at your
state government's website or a school atlas.
How to fill it in:

1. Write your state's name at the top of the page.
2. Fill the four blanks with the names.
3. Beside each one write a single line — why do you think it was chosen?
4. Draw a small picture of any one of the four.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer — for a child in Odisha:

SYMBOL ODISHA WHY IT FITS

State animal Sambar deer It lives in Odisha's forests

State bird Indian roller (neelkanth) A bright blue bird seen on wires and in fields

State tree Ashoka tree Common in the state, and old in our stories

State flower Ashoka flower Orange-red bunches that flower in spring

A few more, so you can see the idea:

STATE ANIMAL BIRD TREE FLOWER

Rajasthan Chinkara Great Indian bustard Khejri Rohida

Kerala Indian elephant Great hornbill Coconut Kanikkonna (golden
palm shower)

Assam One-horned White-winged wood Hollong Foxtail orchid
rhinoceros duck

Maharashtra Indian giant squirrel Yellow-footed green Mango Jarul
pigeon

Why states choose symbols: A state symbol is usually a living thing that is common
there, or rare and in danger there. Naming it is a way of saying: this belongs to us,
so we will protect it. After Rajasthan named the Great Indian bustard, special work
began to save the few that are left.

Tip: If your state's symbol is a bird or a tree, look for it on the way home. Most state
symbols are things you can actually see.

Draw — Page 84

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A symbol for your school

DRAW

Q1 Spot a tree, bird, animal, flower or object near your school. Choose one as your
school symbol. Draw it and write one line on why it can be your school’s symbol.

Choose something that anyone standing at your school gate can actually see. That is what
makes a symbol yours and nobody else's.
How to do it, step by step:

1. Stand at the school gate. Look around slowly — up at the trees, down at the ground, along
the walls.
2. Note down three things you notice: perhaps a big neem tree, a well, a pair of sparrows on
the wall.
3. Pick the one that has been there the longest and that everybody knows.
4. Draw it big and simple, in the middle of the page. Do not try to draw every leaf.
5. Below it, write one line: this can be our school symbol because…

WHAT YOU SPOTTED THE ONE LINE YOU COULD WRITE

The old neem tree in the It has given shade to every child of this school for forty years, and it teaches us
yard to grow slowly and stay strong.

Sparrows nesting above the They are small and busy and they build their home here, just like us.
corridor

The school bell Its sound calls all of us together, whoever we are.

A lotus in the pond nearby It grows out of mud and still comes up clean, so it tells us not to give up.

The hand pump at the gate Everyone drinks from it, so it stands for sharing.

Sample answer: I chose the neem tree beside the school gate. My drawing shows its thick
trunk and its round green top, with two children sitting in its shade. My line is: The neem tree is
our school symbol because it gives shade and clean air to everyone who comes here, and it asks for
nothing back.

A symbol is not decoration. Before you finish, read your one line aloud. If it says
something true about your school, the symbol is right.

Activity 5 — Pages 84–85

Page 17 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Our Vibrant Culture — languages

ACTIVITY

Q1 Find out about the languages spoken by students in your class and name them.

Do a quick class survey. You will almost certainly find more languages than you expected.
How to do it:

1. Draw two columns on the board: Language spoken at home and How many children.
2. Each child says the language they speak at home with their family.
3. Make a tally mark against that language. If it is new, add a row.
4. Also ask a second question: which other language can you understand, even a little? Add those
too.
5. Count the rows at the end. That number is the number of languages in one classroom.

Sample answer — a class of 32 children:

LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME NUMBER OF CHILDREN

Hindi 14

Bhojpuri 6

Bengali 4

Marathi 3

Urdu 2

Odia 2

Nepali 1

Total children 32, speaking 7 languages

Your class list will be different. Write down what you actually find, not this list.

What the survey shows: More than a thousand languages are spoken in India, and
22 of them are listed in our Constitution. Many children in India grow up hearing two
or three languages every day — one at home, one in the street, one at school. That is
normal here, and it is a strength.

Page 18 of 41

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country
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co m
m.
Nice to add: Ask each child to write namaste or thank you in their home language on

m as e
l
a slip of paper. Pin all the slips on one chart. That chart is a picture of your class.

m .co a g
l a se
a g
Q2 Pick a specific word (for example, mango) and have fun learning what it is called in

com
ag
different languages. Fill the table.

m .
as e
a g l
NAME OF THE LANGUAGE HOW IS IT SAID?

co m
m.
Tamil Māmpalam

m as e
.coTelugu
a g l
se m
g l a
a
Marathi

m a s
Bengali

m.co agl
l a se
a g

co m
m .
m as e
.co a g l
se m
g l a
a
The table on page 85. One example is already filled in.
se m
com g l a
m . a
ase
agl
The book has filled the first row for you: in Tamil, mango is Māmpalam. Here is the whole table

co m
.
filled in.

em
m l as
m .co a g
l a se
ag
.c
s e m
m a
e m . co agl
g l as
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

NAME OF THE LANGUAGE HOW IS IT SAID?

Tamil Māmpalam

Telugu Māmiḍi paṇḍu

Marathi Āmbā

Bengali Ām

Hindi Ām

Gujarati Kerī

Kannada Māvina haṇṇu

Malayalam Māṅṅa

Punjabi Amb

Odia Āmba

Assamese Ām

Sanskrit Āmra

English Mango

Notice something: read the words again — ām, āmba, āmbā, amb, āmra,
māmpalam, māṅṅa, māvina. Almost all of them have the same small sound ām or mā
hiding inside. Languages that grew up in the same land often keep the same old
root for the same thing. The English word mango itself came from the Tamil-
Malayalam word māṅgāy.

Try another word: water, mother, school, rice. Ask the children in your class, ask at
home, ask a shopkeeper. Write the word, and beside it write who told you. That is
real fieldwork.

In-text Question — Page 87

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Diversity Everywhere — headgear

Q1 How many headgears can you name?

1 2 3 4

5 6 7

The seven headgears shown on page 87, drawn again here.

Look at the seven faces on page 87, row by row, from left to right. Here is what each one is
wearing.

Page 21 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHERE THE WHAT YOU CAN SEE NAME IT
PICTURE IS

Top row, 1st An elderly man with a big bright pink cloth wound Pink pagri (safa) — worn by
round his head, in a white shirt elders in Rajasthan and
Haryana

Top row, 2nd A man in a deep red turban with a gold band and a Red safa / pagri — Rajasthan
jewel in front

Top row, 3rd A young woman in a crown-shaped woven A festive woven headdress of
headdress with a zigzag pattern, silver flowers on North-East India
top and long strings of red beads hanging at both
sides

Top row, 4th A man in a stitched, flat-topped brocade turban of A stitched brocade turban —
pink and gold, with a shawl on his shoulder the peta / pheta of Karnataka
and Maharashtra

Bottom row, A girl in a hard green-and-blue helmet with straps A cycling helmet
1st under the chin

Bottom row, A man in a small round cap with a coloured woven Himachali topi — Himachal
2nd band round the front Pradesh

Bottom row, A bearded man in a neatly wound blue turban Dastar / pagri — worn by Sikh
3rd men

More headgear you can add to your list: Gandhi topi, Nehru cap, the Assamese japi made of
bamboo and palm leaf, the Kashmiri karakuli, the Ladakhi perak, the feathered headdress of
Nagaland, the Mysore peta, an army beret, a construction worker's hard hat, a motorcycle
helmet, a sun hat.

Why headgear says so much: A headgear can tell you three different things. Where
a person is from — a Himachali topi is not tied like a Rajasthani safa. What they
believe — many Sikh men wear a turban as part of their faith. What work they do
— a helmet means a worker on a site, a road or in a mine. The same cloth, tied in a
different way, becomes a different story.

The safety rule from page 87: Helmets are compulsory on two-wheelers. A helmet
is headgear too — the kind that is worn not for beauty but to keep a head safe.

Activity 6 — Page 87

Page 22 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Make a headgear

ACTIVITY

Q1 In small groups, take a dupatta or scarf and help each other make a traditional
headgear.

Work in threes. One person is the wearer, one ties, one holds the loose end. A long dupatta,
a stole or a big scarf works. Nothing is cut and nothing is stitched, so the cloth is not spoiled.
A simple safa-style turban:

1. Fold the dupatta lengthwise two or three times, so you have a long flat band about a hand's
width across.
2. Place the middle of the band on the wearer's forehead, just above the eyebrows.
3. Take both ends back over the ears, cross them at the back of the head, and bring them to the
front again.
4. Now wind them round and round the head, each round slightly above the last, so a neat
cone builds up.
5. Tuck the last end firmly into a fold at the back. Nothing must dangle.
6. Pull out one small corner at the top and fan it, like the plume on a Rajasthani safa.

A simple cap-style topi: fold the scarf into a triangle, lay the long edge across the forehead,
take the two side corners round the back, tie them in a flat knot, then tuck the hanging point in
under the knot.

IF IT KEEPS SLIPPING WHAT TO FIX

The turban comes loose Your folds were too wide. Make the band narrower and pull each round snug
before the next.

It sits too high and Start lower, right on the forehead, and keep the first round flat.
wobbles

The end will not stay Tuck it under two layers, not one. A small safety pin at the back is allowed.
tucked

What you learn by doing it: A turban is one long piece of cloth and nothing else —
no stitching, no buttons. The whole shape comes from the way it is wound. That is
why the same cloth is tied differently in Rajasthan, in Punjab, in Karnataka and in
Maharashtra, and why people from those places can recognise each other's tying at
a glance.

Page 23 of 41

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country
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co m
m.
Be careful and be kind: Ask before you tie anything on someone's head. Some

m a plain scarf, in a spirit of learning. as e
l
people wear a headgear for their faith, and that one is never a costume. Try it out on
. cowith a g
em
each other
a s
agl

co m
ag
Create a headgear or cap using waste materials.
.
Q2

e m
g l as
a
You need no new material at all. Old newspaper, a cardboard carton, gift-wrapping paper,

co m
m.
bottle caps, wool ends, old bangles, dry leaves, feathers found on the ground — all of it works.

m
A newspaper cap in six steps:
o l a se
g top.
c full newspaper sheet and fold it in half, with the fold atathe
1. Open .one
m
se the two top corners in to meet at the middle. You now have a triangle with a strip at the
2.aFold
l
a g bottom.

m a s
agl
3. Fold the bottom strip up on the front side. Turn the whole thing over.

m.co
se
4. Fold the bottom strip up on this side too.

g l
5. Press all the folds hard with your thumbnail.a
a
6. Open the cap out at the bottom and put it on. It is the Gandhi-topi shape.

om
A cardboard crown-style headdress in five steps:

1. Cut a strip of card long enough to go round your head, and about fourm
. c
s e fingers wide.

. com it round your head, leave two fingers extra, and staplea latape the ends into a ring.
gor
em
2. Measure

l a s3. Cover the ring with wrapping paper or paint it in one bright colour.

ag 4. Decorate: bottle-cap circles for mirrors, wool for tassels hanging at the sides, folded paper
points at the top.
se m
com g l a
. a
5. Line the inside edge with a strip of soft cloth so it does not scratch.
m
ase
agl
WASTE MATERIAL WHAT IT CAN BECOME

m
Newspaper A folded topi, or paper rolls for the frame

. co
Cardboard carton
a s em
comcaps, old bangles
The band of a crown or a helmet shell

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Mirror-work and shinyadiscs
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Bottle

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Wool ends, jute string Tassels and hanging strings

s e m
m a
.co agl
Old gift paper, cloth scraps The bright covering and the border

se m
g l a
a

co m
m .
m as e
.co


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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why waste material is the right material here: Real headgear was always made
from what a place already had — cane and leaf in the north-east, wool in the hills,
cotton in the plains. Making yours from what is lying about follows the same idea,
and nothing goes into the dustbin.

Hold a small parade: Each maker wears the headgear and says one sentence —
what it is made of, and which part of India gave the idea. That is the whole activity
finished.

Activity 7 — Page 89

Page 25 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Dance forms and the states they come from

ACTIVITY

Q1 Under your teacher’s guidance, identify and mark the states on the map of India
where these dance forms originated.

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9

The nine dancers shown on page 89, drawn again here — look at the dress, the head-
dress and what each dancer holds.

The book prints nine dancers and no names. So look carefully at each picture first — the dress,
what is in the hands, the pose — and then name the dance and the state.

Page 26 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

WHERE THE WHAT THE PICTURE SHOWS DANCE STATE
PICTURE IS

Top row, 1st A woman with long loose hair, a stick in each Dandiya Raas Gujarat
hand, one raised high, in a many-tiered red- (danced with Garba)
yellow ghagra

Top row, 2nd Three women stepping together in a line, in A folk dance of the Assam
wrapped skirts with woven borders, yellow North-East — Bihu
shawls and headbands with white plumes

Top row, 3rd Men in turbans and women in salwar-kameez, Bhangra and Giddha Punjab
arms thrown up, one foot off the ground

Top row, 4th A woman spinning, wide blue-and-yellow Ghoomar Rajasthan
ghagra flying out, a red odhni over her head,
heavy bangles on raised arms

Bottom row, A woman in a plain white skirt with a broad Mohiniyattam Kerala
1st gold border and a gold pleated fan at the
waist, hair in a side bun

Bottom row, A male dancer, bare above the waist, in a Bharatanatyam Tamil Nadu
2nd yellow dhoti with a green border, one arm
curved over the head

Bottom row, A woman in a cream saree with a wide red- Kuchipudi Andhra
3rd and-gold border and a red blouse, turning so Pradesh
the pleats swing out

Bottom row, A woman in a silver filigree crown and a silver Odissi Odisha
4th belt, yellow cloth draped over the legs, fingers
held in a mudra

Bottom row, A woman in a stiff barrel-shaped skirt with a Manipuri (Raas Manipur
5th bright embroidered lower band, and a thin Leela)
white veil over a pointed cap

How to mark the map:

1. Take an outline map of India.
2. Find each state named above and colour it lightly.
3. Write the dance's name inside the state, or draw a line out to the margin and write it there.
4. Give each dance a small mark of its own — two sticks for Dandiya, a drum for Bhangra, a
spinning skirt for Ghoomar.
5. Make a key at the bottom of the map so anyone can read it.

Page 27 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Why dances differ from place to place: A dance grows out of the life around it.
Bhangra came from the joy of the harvest in Punjab's wheat fields. Ghoomar and
Dandiya belong to festival nights in the west. Manipuri grew inside temple worship.
Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi and Mohiniyattam were shaped over centuries in
the temples and courts of the south and the east. So the dance carries the weather,
the work and the beliefs of its own corner of India.

Honest note: Your book prints the pictures without names, so a teacher may name
one or two of them a little differently — several Indian dances share a costume.
Always describe what you can see first, then give the name. That is how a careful
learner works.

Write — Page 89
Musical instruments

WRITE

Q1 What are some traditional Indian musical instruments that you know of?

Indian instruments fall into four easy groups — the ones you hit, the ones you blow, the
ones with strings, and the ones you shake or strike together.

GROUP INSTRUMENTS WHERE YOU MAY HAVE
HEARD IT

Drums — you hit Tabla, dholak, dhol, mridangam, pakhawaj, The eleven drums in the picture
them nagara, khol, thavil, idakka, dhama, khanjira on page 88

Wind — you blow Bansuri (flute), shehnai, nadaswaram, pungi, Shehnai at a wedding; bansuri
into them been in film songs

Strings — you Sitar, veena, sarod, santoor, sarangi, ektara, Sitar in Hindustani music;
pluck or bow them tanpura, dilruba veena in Carnatic music

Struck or shaken Manjira (small cymbals), ghungroo (ankle bells), Manjira in a bhajan; ghungroo
ghatam (a clay pot), chimta, kartal on a Kathak dancer's ankles

The two music traditions named in your book:

Page 28 of 41

ase
Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country
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co m
e m.
Carnatic music (South India) — mridangam, veena, nadaswaram, ghatam, khanjira
m l as
.co
Hindustani music (North India) — sitar, shehnai, tabla, sarod, sarangi, pakhawaj
m a g
l a se
g
aWhy one drum is not like another: A drum is made from whatever the place gives

co m
— wood, clay or metal for the body, animal skin for the face, rope or leather for the

em .
tightening. Change the size, the wood and the tightness, and the sound changes ag
g l as
completely. That is why a thavil in Tamil Nadu, a khol in Assam and a dhol in Punjab
a
all sound different, though all three are drums.

. c om
Write about your own place: Name the instruments you have actually
s e m heard — at a
.
wedding, la count more
coma temple, a mosque, a village fair, a school function.agThose
a s emfamous names from a book.
gl
than
a
m a s
m .co agl
se
Q2 Try to make a musical instrument from locally available materials.

g l a
a
Every instrument works in one of three ways: something is stretched and hit, something is
co m
m .
as e
stretched and plucked, or air is made to shake inside a tube. Make one of each and you will
m l
.co g
understand all of them.
m a
l a se
1. A drum (a small dholak)

ag 1. Take an empty tin or a plastic bucket with the top cut off.
2. Cut a circle from a thick balloon or an old inner tube, a little wider than the mouth.
se m
3. Stretch it tight over the mouth and tieoitm l a
m .cthe string more and tap again — the sound gets higher. ag
down hard with strong string or a rubber ring.

l a se
4. Tap it with your fingers. Then tighten

ag
2. A string instrument (a one-string ektara)

1. Take a strong cardboard box or a tin with an open top.
co m
m .
e
2. Stretch two or three rubber bands of different thickness across the opening.
m l as
.co g
3. Slip a pencil under the bands near each end, so they lift off the box.

e m4. Pluck them. The thin band gives a high sound, the thick band a low one. a
la s
ag 3. A wind instrument (a straw shehnai)
c
m .
m a s e
agl
1. Flatten one end of a drinking straw and cut it into a narrow V.

. co
m
2. Press that end lightly between your lips and blow hard. It buzzes.

as e
g l
3. Snip the straw shorter while you blow. The note rises each time you cut.
a

co m
m .
m ase
.co


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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

INSTRUMENT YOU WHAT MAKES THE HOW TO CHANGE THE NOTE
MADE SOUND

Tin drum The stretched rubber Tighten it for a higher sound; loosen it for a
shakes lower one

Rubber-band ektara The stretched band shakes A thinner or tighter band gives a higher note

Straw shehnai The air inside the straw A shorter straw gives a higher note
shakes

Bottle xylophone The air above the water More water in the bottle means a lower note
shakes

The one rule behind all of them: Sound is made by something shaking quickly —
the drum skin, the band, the air in the tube. Shake it faster and the note is higher.
Small, tight and short things shake faster, so they sound higher. Big, loose and long
things shake slower, so they sound lower.

Play together: Three children with a drum, an ektara and a straw make a band.
Keep a steady beat on the drum first, then let the others come in on the beat. That is
exactly how a real group starts.

Let us reflect — Pages 91–93
Closing questions

LET US REFLECT

Q1 If you could learn one more Indian language, which one would you select and why?

Pick a language you will actually get to use, and say who you will use it with. That is what
makes this a good answer instead of a guess.
Three sensible ways to choose:

1. The language spoken around you. A friend in class, a neighbour, a shopkeeper — you will
get to practise every day.
2. A language of your own family. Many children understand a grandparent's language but
cannot speak it. Learning it opens up your grandparent's stories.
3. A language you like the sound of. A song, a film or a poem is a perfectly good reason.

Page 30 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Sample answer: I would like to learn Tamil. Two families in our lane speak Tamil at home, and
my friend Meena reads Tamil books that I cannot read. Tamil is also one of the oldest living
languages in the world, with poems written more than two thousand years ago. I would start
with everyday sentences — how are you, what is your name, thank you — and Meena has said she
will teach me the letters.

STEP WHAT TO DO FIRST

1 Learn ten everyday words — water, food, come, go, thank you, how much, yes, no, name, friend

2 Learn five full sentences and use them with a real person every day

3 Learn to read the letters, starting with the ones in your own name

4 Learn one song. A song makes the sounds stick

Why learning another Indian language is worth it: Every language carries stories,
songs and jokes that do not come across in translation. Learning one is also a way of
telling its speakers that they matter. And a child who already speaks two languages
finds a third one easier, not harder.

Q2 Which monuments do you see in different currency notes? Make a table.
(Denomination / Monument / Name of the State — ₹10 Sun temple of Konark,
Odisha given; ₹20, ₹50, ₹100, ₹200, ₹500 blank.)

Every note in the present series carries a famous Indian monument on its back. Here is the table
filled in.

DENOMINATION MONUMENT NAME OF THE STATE

₹10 Sun Temple of Konark Odisha

₹20 Ellora Caves Maharashtra

₹50 Stone Chariot at Hampi Karnataka

₹100 Rani ki Vav, the queen's stepwell at Patan Gujarat

₹200 Sanchi Stupa Madhya Pradesh

₹500 Red Fort (Lal Qila) Delhi

Page 31 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A quick look at each one:

Sun Temple, Konark — a temple built as a giant stone chariot for the Sun God, with twenty-
four carved wheels and seven horses.
Ellora Caves — halls and temples cut straight into a hillside of rock, made by three different
faiths side by side.
Stone Chariot, Hampi — a small chariot carved out of stone in the ruins of the great city of
Vijayanagara.
Rani ki Vav — a stepwell that goes seven storeys down into the ground, its walls covered
with hundreds of carvings.
Sanchi Stupa — a great dome of brick and stone built to hold relics of the Buddha, begun in
the time of Emperor Ashoka.
Red Fort, Delhi — the red sandstone fort from where the Prime Minister addresses the
country every Independence Day.

Why monuments and not portraits: A monument belongs to everybody. Putting
one on each note quietly teaches the whole country its own history, note by note —
and it spreads the notes evenly across India, from Odisha to Gujarat, from Madhya
Pradesh to Karnataka.

Colours help too: ₹10 is chocolate brown, ₹20 greenish yellow, ₹50 fluorescent blue,
₹100 lavender, ₹200 bright yellow and ₹500 stone grey. Different colours and
different sizes make the notes easier to tell apart — especially for a person who
cannot see well.

Q3 Identify the currency symbol of India among the images shown below (the clue is in
our currency note). Which other country’s currency symbol can you identify?

€ $ ₽ ₹ Y Y £ £
a b c d e f g h

The eight currency symbols printed on page 91.

India's currency symbol is ₹ — the fourth one in the row. It is the rupee sign.

Page 32 of 41

Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

How to spot it. Look at the Devanagari letter र (ra). Now add a line across the top and a second
short line lower down, like the two bars in an equals sign. That is ₹. It is the Devanagari र and
the Roman R joined together, with the two bars standing for the two lines of the tricolour and
for equality.

SYMBOL IN THE WHOSE MONEY IT IS HOW TO RECOGNISE IT
ROW

€ Euro — used by many countries of Europe A round C with two lines across it

$ Dollar — the United States of America, and An S with a line through it
several other countries

₽ Ruble — Russia A capital P with a line across its
leg

₹ Rupee — INDIA The letter र with two bars, one long
and one short

¥ (one bar) Yuan — China A capital Y with a bar across it

¥ (two bars) Yen — Japan The same Y, with two bars

£ Pound sterling — the United Kingdom A curly L with a line across it

In the English edition the last symbol, the pound, is printed twice in two different type styles, so eight
boxes are shown; the Hindi edition prints seven.

Where the clue on the note is: Take a ten-rupee note and look at the big value
printed on it. The ₹ sign stands in front of the 10. That is the clue the question is
pointing you to.

Did you know? The ₹ symbol is quite new. It was designed by D. Udaya Kumar and
was adopted by India in 2010. Before that we simply wrote Rs.

Q4 Which animals do you see in a ₹10 note?

The clearest animals on a ten-rupee note are the lions of the National Emblem, printed on
the front.

Page 33 of 41

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country
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1. Lions. On the right of the front, beside the value, is the National Emblem — the Lion Capital
co m
se
of Ashoka. Three lions stand back to back on a round base. (A fourth lion is there, hidden
m.
o m l a
g band are carved a
.c a bull. Look at the round base just under the lions. On athat
behind the others.)
2. A horsem
se horse and a bull, with wheels between them. They are small, so hold the note in
and
l a
ag
galloping
good light.

m
3. The carvings on the back. The back of the note shows the Sun Temple of Konark. That
. co ag
m
temple is built as the Sun God's chariot, drawn by horses, and its stone walls carry many

as e
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carved animals, including elephants. Look closely at the carved wall printed beside the great
wheel. a g

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SIDE OF THE NOTE WHERE TO LOOK ANIMAL

m as e
Front
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The National Emblem on the right
g l
Lions (three visible)
a
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Front The round base under the lions A horse and a bull

a Back The Konark Sun Temple carving Horses and elephants in the stone carving

m a s
em
.co agl
a s
agl set up at Sarnath more than two thousand years
Why the lions are there: The National Emblem is our country's own sign, taken
from the pillar Emperor Ashoka
ago. It stands for strength, courage and confidence, and it is printed on every note,

co m
.
on government papers and on your Aadhaar card. Below it are written the words
e m
as
Satyameva Jayate — truth alone triumphs.
m l
m .co a g
a s eDo
agl it yourself: Borrow a ₹10 note from an adult. Find the lions first, then the base
under them. Give the note back afterwards, and always handle money with clean,
se m
dry hands.
com g l a
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agl

co m
m .
m as e
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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q5 You must have seen pictures of a few great people of India in your school or any
other place. Identify the names of these great men and women shown below, and
write a few lines about their contributions.

1. A young man with a moustache. He wears a wide brown felt hat and a
light blue shirt.
2. A woman in a red sari with a yellow border. Her head is wrapped in a red
cloth with a yellow-and-blue end hanging down. She wears a pearl
necklace and a bindi.
3. A man in a green army uniform with a green side cap, round spectacles, a
row of medal ribbons and a leather belt across his chest.
4. An old man with silver-white hair brushed back, smiling, in a plain grey-
white kurta.
5. An old man in a white turban and round spectacles, wearing a yellow
kurta.
6. A bearded man seen from the side. He wears a white-and-blue jewelled
turban with a plume, strings of pearls, and a blue robe with gold borders.

The six pictures on page 92 — described here; see the textbook for the drawings
themselves.

Look at the six portraits on page 92, row by row, from left to right.
Top row

1. Bhagat Singh — the young man in the brown felt hat and light shirt. He was a revolutionary
freedom fighter from Punjab. He and his friends wanted the British to leave India at once,
and he used the slogan Inquilab Zindabad — long live the revolution. He was hanged in 1931,
when he was only 23. His courage at such a young age still stirs people.
2. Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi — the woman in the red headwrap with pearls and a red saree.
She was the queen of Jhansi. When the British tried to take her kingdom, she refused to
hand it over and led her soldiers herself in the great uprising of 1857. She died fighting, and
she is remembered as one of the bravest leaders in our history.
3. Subhas Chandra Bose (Netaji) — the man in the green military uniform, cap and round
glasses. He believed India would have to fight for its freedom, and he built the Azad Hind
Fauj (the Indian National Army). His call was, Give me blood, and I will give you freedom. The
greeting Jai Hind comes from him.

Bottom row

4. Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam — the smiling elderly man with silver hair. He was a scientist who led
India's rocket and missile work, which is why he is called the Missile Man of India. He
became the 11th President of India. He always said he wanted to be remembered as a

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

teacher, and he spent his last years talking to school children.
5. Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan — the man in the white turban and round glasses. He was a
great teacher and thinker, and later the first Vice-President and the second President of
India. When his students wanted to celebrate his birthday, he asked them to keep it as a day
for all teachers instead. That is why 5 September is Teachers' Day in India.
6. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj — the ruler with the pointed beard, pearl necklaces and a
plumed turban. He founded the Maratha kingdom in the 17th century. He was a brilliant
general who used the hills and forts of his land cleverly, built a navy to guard the coast, and
was known for treating ordinary people, farmers and women with justice.

NAME BEST KNOWN AS REMEMBER THEM FOR

Bhagat Singh Revolutionary freedom fighter Courage at 23; the slogan Inquilab
Zindabad

Rani Lakshmibai Queen of Jhansi Led her own army in 1857 and never
surrendered

Subhas Chandra Bose Netaji Founded the Azad Hind Fauj; gave us Jai
Hind

Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Missile Man; 11th President Rockets and missiles; a lifelong teacher of
children

Dr S. Radhakrishnan Philosopher; 2nd President Teachers' Day is his birthday, 5 September

Chhatrapati Shivaji Founder of the Maratha Forts, a navy, and justice for ordinary
Maharaj kingdom people

What they have in common: They come from different centuries, different regions
and different faiths. Three fought for freedom, one built a kingdom, two built minds.
Yet all six put the country before themselves — which is exactly why their pictures
hang in our schools.

Q6 Group activity: Find out from your elders about people, who have contributed to the
nation from your locality or state, and share what you learnt in the classroom.

Great people are not only in books. Almost every district in India has someone worth
knowing about, and the people who remember them are your own elders.
Step 1 — Make your group and split the work. Four or five children. One writes, one draws,
one keeps time, one speaks for the group.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Step 2 — Decide whom to ask. Grandparents, an old neighbour, a retired teacher, the village
head, the librarian, the oldest shopkeeper in the lane.
Step 3 — Ask these six questions. Write the answers down as you hear them.

1. Who is a person from our area that people still talk about?
2. When did they live, and what did they do?
3. What changed because of them?
4. Is there anything named after them here — a school, a road, a hospital, a statue?
5. Do you remember any story about them?
6. Who else should we ask?

Step 4 — Look for the kinds of people that get missed. A freedom fighter, yes. But also: the
woman who started the first girls' school in the town; the doctor who ran a free clinic; the
farmer who brought back a lost seed; the person who cleaned and saved a pond; a
sportsperson; a folk singer; a craftsperson who kept an old craft alive.
Step 5 — Present it in three minutes. Name, place, dates, what they did, what changed, and
one story. Add a photograph, a drawing or an object if you can.
Sample answer: Our group asked my grandmother about Shanti Devi of our town. In 1974 she
began teaching six girls under a tree because there was no school for girls nearby. Parents did
not want to send them at first, so she went to each house herself. Within ten years that class
had become a proper school. The girls' school on Station Road still stands, and it is named after
her. My grandmother was one of those first six girls, and she says the hardest part was not the
studying — it was walking past the people who laughed.

Why ask elders and not only books: Small, local histories often never get written
down. When an elder tells you a story, you become the one who writes it down for
the first time. That is real work, and it belongs to your class alone.

Good manners for an interview: Ask permission first. Listen without interrupting.
Write the name of the person who told you the story. Read your notes back to them
and check you got it right. Say thank you.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Q7 Project: Cultural fair. Celebrate the vibrant diversity of India, where every state tells
its own colourful story. Divide the class into groups; assign each group a different
state; each group explores their state and prepares a presentation covering
traditional dress, popular food, festivals, languages, dance or music; prepare
posters and cut-outs; set up a fair with a booth for each state; then discuss: What
are the unique features you found in each state? What are the similarities or
common values you found?

A cultural fair is the whole chapter turned into one afternoon. Here is how to run it and how
to end it well.
Step 1 — Divide and assign. Groups of four or five. Each group draws the name of one state or
union territory from a bowl. Try to cover north, south, east, west and the north-east.
Step 2 — Each group fills this six-box chart for its state.

BOX WHAT TO FIND OUT EXAMPLE — ASSAM

Traditional What people wear on festival days Mekhela chador for women; dhoti and gamosa
dress for men

Popular food Two everyday dishes and one Rice with fish curry; khar; pitha at Bihu
festival dish

Festivals The biggest one, and when it falls Bihu, at three points of the farming year

Languages What people speak; how to say hello Assamese, Bodo, Mising; hello is nomoskar

Dance or music One dance and one instrument Bihu dance; the dhol and the pepa

One special Anything the state is famous for Kaziranga's one-horned rhinoceros; Assam tea
thing

Step 3 — Build the booth. A poster with the state's outline map. Cut-outs of the dress. Pictures
or clay models of the food. A small chart of ten words in the state's language. A drum or a
rhythm the group can perform. Fold a chart into three so it stands on the desk by itself.
Step 4 — Run the fair. Half the group stays at the booth to explain; half goes visiting. Then they
swap, so everyone gets both turns. Give each visitor a slip of paper to note one new thing from
every booth.
Step 5 — The closing circle. Answer the two questions.
What are the unique features you found in each state?
Sample answer: Every state had something no other booth had. Kerala had a boat race and a
meal served on a banana leaf. Rajasthan had a desert, a puppet show and a bright safa. Assam
had a one-horned rhinoceros and tea gardens. Nagaland had a hornbill festival and a woven

Page 38 of 41

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country
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shawl in which the pattern itself tells who the wearer is. Kashmir had a shikara boat and a shawl
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Every state had a harvest festival — Baisakhi, Bihu, Onam, Pongal, Nuakhai, Lohri.

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make one strong, bright cloth.
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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

A currency note is full of India. Hold a ten-rupee note. On the front are Mahatma Gandhi,
the National Emblem — three lions on a round base — and the value written in Hindi and
English. Hold it up to the light and a second, smaller Gandhi appears. That is the
watermark. On the back is the Sun Temple of Konark in Odisha, the round spectacles of
the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, and a panel with the value in 15 more Indian languages.
Some notes have raised marks so that people who cannot see can feel which note it is. The
MANI app also reads notes aloud for them.
National symbols remind us who we are. Our National Animal is the tiger, our National
Bird the peacock, our National Flower the lotus, our National Tree the banyan and our
National Fruit the mango. The National Emblem is taken from the Lion Capital that Emperor
Ashoka set up at Sarnath. Every state has its own symbols too — a state animal, a state bird,
a state tree and a state flower.
India speaks more than a thousand languages. Twenty-two of them are listed in the
Constitution. One fruit can have many names — māmpalam in Tamil, āmba in Marathi, ām in
Bengali and Hindi, kerī in Gujarati. Each language carries its own songs, stories and history.
India is one of the most multilingual countries in the world.
Diversity makes a country strong, the way it makes a forest strong. A garden has only a
few kinds of plants and needs constant care. A forest has hundreds of kinds of plants,
animals, birds and insects. They look after each other, and the forest grows richer and
stronger on its own. India is like the forest, not the garden.
You can read a person's region in a headgear. In Rajasthan men tie a bright safa or pagri.
In Himachal Pradesh people wear a woven topi. Many people in the North-East wear a
decorated woven headdress on festival days. Headgear can show where a person is from,
what they believe, or what work they do. Headgear also protects — a soldier's helmet, a
miner's helmet, and the road helmet that everyone must wear on a two-wheeler.
Even a drum changes from state to state. The chapter's picture panel shows eleven
Indian drums: pakhawaj, dhama, khanjira, dhol, mridangam, dholak, thavil, idakka, khol,
nagara and tabla. Each is made of the wood, skin and rope of its own region, and each has
its own sound. In the same way, mridangam belongs to Carnatic music, and sitar and
shehnai to Hindustani music. Different states have also given us different dance forms.
Many threads, one cloth. India has many languages, many faiths, many kinds of clothes
and food. Each region tells its own story, like a single thread. Woven together, those threads
make one strong, bright cloth. We also look forward: scientists launch rockets, farmers use
new technology, payments are made with one tap, and children learn science along with
dance and music. The old is not being replaced — new colours are being added to it. The
old Indian saying for this is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — the whole world is one family.

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Class 5 The World Around Us Chapter 5 Our Vibrant Country AglaSem · NCERT Solutions

Quick revision

WORD WHAT IT MEANS WHERE IT AN EVERYDAY
APPEARS EXAMPLE

Republic Day 26 January, the day we began A Special Day in The flag ceremony and
following our Constitution School, page 75 parade in your school

Constitution The special book of rules by which Do you know?, page It says every child has the
our country is run 79 right to go to school

Ashoka Chakra The blue wheel in the middle of the Do you know?, page The wheel in the centre of
flag; it stands for duty and dharma 75 the tricolour

Tableau (jhanki) A decorated float that shows the life Activity 1, page 78 A Kerala float with a boat
and culture of one state race on it

National Emblem Three lions on a round base, taken Symbols that Speak, Printed on your Aadhaar
from Ashoka's pillar at Sarnath page 82 card and on every note

Watermark A hidden picture inside the paper Page 81 The small second Gandhi
that shows only against light on a currency note

Swachh Bharat The Clean India Mission; its sign is Page 81 The spectacles printed on
Abhiyan Gandhi ji's round spectacles the back of a note

Currency symbol The short sign written before an Let us reflect 3, ₹ 50 means fifty rupees
amount of money page 91

Diversity Having many different kinds of Diversity Four languages spoken in
people, languages and ways of living Everywhere, page one classroom
86

Headgear Anything worn on the head — Page 86 A safa, a Himachali topi, a
turban, cap, helmet, woven crown cycling helmet

Safa / pagri The long cloth wound round the Page 86 The bright pink turban of a
head as a turban, tied in many styles Rajasthani elder

Art form A way of saying something through Page 88 Bhangra, Odissi, a rangoli
music, dance, painting or craft at the doorstep

Mridangam A two-sided drum used in Carnatic Page 89 Played beside a singer in a
music of South India Carnatic concert

Vasudhaiva An old Indian saying: the whole About the Unit Helping a new child in class
Kutumbakam world is one family feel at home

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