The Big Questions (Page 1)
- What defines a ‘neighbour’? Is it just shared land borders?
Answer: A neighbour is not just a country that shares a land border with us. We also have maritime neighbours, which are countries that share the ocean or sea with us, even if our lands do not touch.
- How do geography and history influence the nature of India’s relationships with her neighbours?
Answer: Geography connects us through shared mountains, rivers, and oceans, making travel and trade possible. History connects us through shared religions (like Buddhism and Hinduism) and ancient trade routes, which helped us share our beautiful culture, art, and ideas with each other for thousands of years.
- In what ways are India and her neighbours interconnected today?
Answer: Today, India and her neighbours are connected by trading goods with each other, helping one another during natural disasters like tsunamis, and working together to keep the oceans safe. We also stay connected through open borders where people can travel easily to study, work, or visit temples and families.
LET’S EXPLORE (Page 2)
Activity Explanation: In this activity, you have to look at the map of India and find the names of the giant bodies of water that surround our beautiful country on three sides. Question: Identify the three large water bodies that surround India in the map on the facing page (Fig.2.2).
Answer: The three large water bodies that surround India are the Arabian Sea on the west side, the Bay of Bengal on the east side, and the Indian Ocean at the very south.
DON’T MISS OUT (Page 12)
Activity Explanation: You have to look very closely at the picture of Bhutan’s national emblem (Fig. 2.10) and see if you can spot any special shapes or designs that look like things we often see in India.
Question: What other elements look familiar?
Answer: In the emblem of Bhutan, besides the cool dragons, there is a beautiful lotus flower in the center. The lotus looks very familiar because it is the national flower of India and is found in lots of ancient Indian art and temples!
LET’S EXPLORE (Page 23)
Activity Explanation: This activity asks you to think about the name of Bangkok’s big airport, ‘Suvarnabhumi’, and remember if you have read a similar special word earlier in the chapter related to ancient Indian sailors. Question: Note also the airport’s official name of ‘Suvarnabhumi Airport’ – does it remind you of something? Answer: Yes! It reminds me of the ancient word ‘Suvarnabhumi’, which translates to ‘the golden land’. Many hundreds of years ago, Indian traders used this exact name for places in Southeast Asia, like Thailand, because they travelled there across the sea to trade for valuable things.
LET’S EXPLORE (Page 25)
Activity Explanation: This activity asks you to think about why a country far away across the sea, like Singapore, has Tamil as one of its official languages, and what this tells us about their historical friendship with South India. Question: Seeing that Tamil is one of Singapore’s official languages, what does this suggest to you about the relationship between south India and Singapore? Answer: It suggests that South India and Singapore have a very old and strong friendship! Many people from South India travelled, traded, and settled in Singapore over many years, taking their beautiful Tamil language and culture with them.
Questions and activities (Page 32)
- Explain who a maritime neighbour is with two examples with respect to India.
Answer: A maritime neighbour is a country that is connected to us by a shared sea or ocean, even if we do not share a direct land border. Two great examples of India’s maritime neighbours are Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
- How has Buddhism created links with India’s neighbours? Give examples to explain your answer.
Answer: Buddhism started in India and happily travelled to many neighbouring countries, creating a strong bond of peace and friendship. For example, Indian monks took Buddhist teachings all the way to China, and Chinese monks visited India to learn. Also, people from Bhutan and Myanmar frequently travel to India as pilgrims to pray at sacred Buddhist sites like Bodh Gaya. 3. What does ‘open border’ policy mean? How does the India-Nepal ‘open border’ policy affect the lives of people living along the border? Answer: An ‘open border’ policy means that people from two friendly countries can cross the border easily without needing special travel papers like a visa or a passport. For the people living near the India-Nepal border, this is wonderful because it allows them to freely cross over to go to school, visit doctors, do business in markets, and meet their family members.
- The chapter says, “Being neighbours is not just about geography.” Explain this statement with an example.
Answer: This statement means that being a good neighbour is not just about living next to each other on a map; it is about working together, helping each other, and sharing love and culture. For example, India and Indonesia do not touch on land, but they are great neighbours because they work together to warn each other about tsunamis to save lives.
- What are the different ways in which India has helped smaller countries in her neighbourhood? Explain with examples.
Answer: India helps its smaller neighbours by giving them support during emergencies and helping them build important things for their citizens. For example, India sent quick help to the Maldives during the terrible 2004 tsunami and a big water crisis in 2014. India also helped Afghanistan by building their Parliament building and major highways.
- How do shared challenges become opportunities for cooperation? Were there examples in this chapter to illustrate this?
Answer: When countries face the same big problems, they can join hands to solve them together, which makes their friendship even stronger! A good example from the chapter is the 2004 tsunami. Because it was so dangerous for everyone, India joined hands with Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand to build an early warning system in the ocean so they can alert each other if an earthquake happens again.
- If borders were drawn only by culture and connections, how would the map look different? Answer: If borders were drawn by culture, the map would not have hard, straight lines separating the countries. Instead, countries like India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand would look like one giant, colourful family because they share so many of the same beautiful stories (like the Ramayana), religions (like Buddhism and Hinduism), and delicious foods.
- On blank maps:
-> Label India’s neighbours.
-> Draw arrows showing cultural flows (e.g., food, festivals, languages) between India and her neighbours.
-> Imagine and redraw new “borders of friendship” that connect neighbours through rivers, trade routes, or cultural zones.
-> Collect pictures of the flags of the countries listed in this chapter and write your observations.
Activity Explanation: For this fun map activity, you need a blank outline map of Asia. First, you will write the names of all the countries around India. Then, you will draw arrows to show how things like Buddhism or the Tamil language travelled from India to other places. After that, you get to draw fun, new borders based on friendship! Finally, you will look at pictures of flags and write down what you notice.
Answer:
- Labelling Neighbours: On the land, I will label Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. In the ocean, I will label Sri Lanka, Maldives, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Iran, and Oman.
- Cultural Flow Arrows: I will draw arrows from India pointing towards China, Myanmar, and Thailand to show the journey of Buddhism. I will also draw arrows from South India down to Singapore and Malaysia to show the journey of the Tamil language and workers. * Borders of Friendship: Instead of straight lines, my new borders will be big circles connecting the things we share. For example, I will draw a big green circle around India and Bangladesh to protect the beautiful Sundarban forests together.
- Flag Observations: When I look at the flags of our neighbours, I observe that many of them use bright colours like red, white, and green. Bhutan’s flag has a very cool dragon on it because they are the “Land of the Thunder Dragon”, and Sri Lanka’s flag has a brave lion holding a sword!