NCERT Book Class 4 EVS Home and Abroad

Chapter 24

Home and Abroad

Today, there was a lot of activity at Maalu’s house. Chittappan and his family were coming home after five years. Chittappan had got a job in a country called Abu Dhabi five years ago. Since then he had lived there. Maalu and her Appa went to the airport to receive them.

After the plane landed, the passengers had to wait for some time to collect their luggage. At last Chittappan, Kunjamma and their two children could be seen coming out. “How big Shanta and Sashi have grown,” Appa said. Soon the many suitcases and bags were fitted into the taxi and everyone was on the way to Maalu’s house. “Shanta, you must be very tired after your long journey, Appa told me that Abu Dhabi is another country, far from India,” said Maalu.

“We are not tired. Even though it is far, our flight took only two hours,” said Shanta. “The plane flies very fast.” Maalu was surprised. She remembered that when she had gone on a school trip to Chennai, they had spent almost 12 hours in the train. And on the map, Kochi and Chennai seemed quite near. Maalu, Shanta and Sashi chatted all the way home from the airport. Maalu remembered how much fun she had on her school trips. She wanted Shanta to tell them all about her trip from Abu Dhabi.

Dust All Around!

“Did you see many interesting things from the plane?” asked Maalu. “Most of the time we saw only clouds because the plane was flying so high, even higher than the clouds,” said Shanta. “But before it went so high, we could see that we were flying over sandy areas. It was sand but the colour of the sand kept changing – white, brown, yellow, red, black. We saw mountains made only of sand.” “They are called sand dunes,” added Sashi.

“I have seen sand only at the seashore,” said Maalu. “Then you should come to visit us,” said Chittappan “The countries around Abu Dhabi are located in a desert area. Even if one drives a little away from the city, one can see miles and miles of sand – no trees, no greenery – just sand.” “I used to dream of the thick greenery and cool water around our home in Kerala,” said Kunjamma. “I am so happy to see all this after such a long time.”

“The children have almost forgotten how it feels when it rains. You know it almost never rains in desert areas,” said Chittappan. “Water is really very precious over there. No rain, no rivers, no lakes, no ponds. Even below the ground there is no water.” “But,” added Sashi, “there is a lot of oil under the sandy soil. So petrol is easily available in these countries.” “In fact petrol is cheaper than water,” said Chittappan. By this time the taxi had reached Maalu’s house.

Shanta and Sashi were surprised to see so many fruit trees– coconuts, bananas, jackfruit, papaya, betelnut … so many kind of trees! Sashi said, “We used to see only one kind of tree there – the date palms – because it is the only one that can grow in the desert. The date is the most common fruit.”

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 4 EVS Home and Abroad