NCERT Book Class 4 EVS Changing Times

Chapter 12

Changing Times

My name is Chetandas. Many years ago I used to teach children like you. These days I spend my time by writing about the days when I was young. I would love to share some of these with you.

A Big Move

I remember the time when I was nine years old. It must have been over sixty years ago. That was when we lived in Dera Gazikhan. Today this place is in Pakistan. At that time, there were a lot of problems all around us. I could not understand what was happening. One day Baba told us

For the teacher: Before starting this lesson, you can talk to the children about how India got freedom from the British rule, and also about the partition. Show them India and Pakistan on the map 

that we had to leave our village and move to another place. I was sad to leave my house and my village. That was where I had all my friends. All of us – Baba, Amma, my younger brothers and sisters and I took a train to come here, near Delhi. Like us, many people from our area also moved. People were saying that our country was being divided into two – India and Pakistan. Many people from India went to Pakistan just like we moved to India. For some time we all stayed in a camp. We lived in big tents that were put up in a huge ground.

A New Home

One day Baba told us that we had been given some land in Sohna village. He said that we could build our house there. I was very happy. Baba and Amma worked hard to make the house. We children also helped. Baba dug the soil, and we quickly filled the pans and passed them on to Amma. Gudiya and Amma mixed husk in it. Baba put up the walls. We brought cow dung from nearby houses. Amma mixed it with the mud. She coated the floor with this mixture, just like she used to do in our old house. Amma used to say that this would keep the insects away. 

Then, it was the turn for the roof to be made. Baba made a frame by joining strips of wood and fixed it on the four walls. We put branches of neem and keekar trees on the frame, so that termites would not harm the wood. Amma put old gunny bags on this and covered them with mud. Most of the houses around our house were made like ours. A few were different. But I liked my house the best. It was just like our old house.

Find out and Write

Ö Talk to any one of your grandparents or any other elderly person. Find out, when she or he was eight-nine years old –

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Ö Where did she or he live?

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Ö From what material was her or his house made?

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Ö Did they have a toilet in their house?

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Ö In which part of the house was food cooked?

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Ö A lot of mud was used when Chetandas' house was made. Why?

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Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 4 EVS Changing Times