NCERT Solutions for Class 5 EVS Chapter 13

Changthang means the Northern Plateau in Tibetan. It is a high altitude plateau in western and northern Tibet which goes from Ladakh east about 1600km to the Chinese state called Qinghai. It is a very high land with giant lakes. It is the home of the Changpa nomads.

Each family of Changpas put a special mark on their animals because it helps them:
• to find the animals if they get mixed with the crowd of the same kind of animals such as herd of goat or ships.
• to treat and feed the exact animal when many animals are available as a pet.
• to count the animals and to know whether an animal is missing from the group of pets
• to know if the members of the same species have extinct due to some reason.

The Changpa graze their goats at higher and colder places so that the goats have more and softer hair (fur). Moreover, the goats can stay and live high up on these mountains and survive here although the conditions are very difficult.

Every home in Kashmir has a bakery because the Kashmiri people don’t cook or make rotis there in their homes and buy them from the bakeries.

Changpas treat their goat as their treasure because they get all the things needed by them from the goats. They get milk, meat, skin for making tents and wool for making coats and sweaters from the goats.

The people of Ladakh build houses that have thick walls, a wooden floor and a wooden ceiling to protect themselves from the extreme cold.

The Changpa or Champa are a semi-nomadic Tibetan people found mainly in the Changtang in Ladakh and in Jammu and Kashmir. A smaller number resides in Changpa tribe. They live on the mountains and have only about 5000 people.

The Changpa people live in the tents which are called Rebo. These tents are large and Octagonal in shape. They are made out of yak-wool that are woven to make strips and are stitched together. Nowadays Rebos are slowly being replaced by canvas tents.
Rebo are strong and warm and protect them from the icy strong winds. The strips are tightly tied with nine sticks and the ground is dug about 2 feet deep.The tent is then put up around this on the higher part of the ground.

The Changpas keep their sheep and goats in a place called Lekha. The walls of Lekha are made up of stones.

Tashi and his family lived on the ground floor during winters because there were no windows on the ground floor so, the ground floor was completely protected from the cold winds. Thus, to protect themselves from the icy cold winds in the winter season, they lived on the ground floor.

It is difficult to breathe normally at places with high altitude because the level of oxygen decreases on the mountains. The people living there have more red blood cells so as to increase the intake of oxygen because of more hemoglobin.

Different places have different type of houses due to the following reasons:
• Climatic variations of the places
• Economic condition of the people
• Easy and quick availability of local raw material like wood, stone, cement, mud etc.

Houses in Mumbai are big bungalows multi storeyed buildings whereas Houses in Manali are small houses with sloping roof, wooden floor.

The houses in Leh and Ladakh are made of stones. The walls of the houses are coated with mud and Lime. Most of the houses have two floors- the ground and the first floor. The houses have wooden floor and wooden ceiling which protects them from the cold climatic conditions.

Changthang is a place which is at a height of almost 5000 metres. It is difficult to breathe here normally as the oxygen level is less at high altitudes.

Pashmina shawl is as warm as six sweaters. It is very thin yet very warm and is made from the soft hair or fur of special goats. These goats which give soft pashmina wools are found on very high altitudes of 5,000 metres. The goats shed some of their hair in summer. The hair of these goats is so fine that it cannot be woven on machines and so weavers of Kashmir make these shawls by hand. It takes 250 hours to make one plain pashmina shawl.

Shikaras are boats which are used by the tourists to take a ride of Dal Lake in Srinagar.

People of Leh eat dry nuts and vegetables as fruits and vegetables are not available in every season. So, during summer season they dry many vegetables and fruits and store them for winter and eat them in winters.

In Srinagar some houses are on the mountains while some are on water. Some old houses have a special type of window which come out of the wall. This is called Tab. It has beautiful wooden pattern. House boats have beautiful carvings on the ceiling.

The materials used for the construction of stilt houses are cement, wood, stone, bamboo or sometimes even mud, depending on the region.

People build stilt houses in water flooded to keep themselves safe from floods and dangerous animals such as snakes and insects. A ladder is used to enter the house. At night the ladder is removed from the house for safety purpose. The shady space under the house is used for work or storage.

A multi–story buildings is a building which has more than one story and such buildings are constructed in big towns and cities as there is shortage of space.

Houses which are built in the hilly areas have sloping rooftops so that the rain water and snow slides down easily and does not get collected on the roof top. Such houses are found in states like Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, etc.

A houseboat is mainly used for recreation or as a home. There are beautiful designs on wood that can be seen on the ceilings of the houseboats and are called khatamband which have a pattern that looks like a jigsaw puzzle. Houseboats can be as long as 80 feet and around 8 to 9 feet wide.

Some old houses have a special type of window which comes out of the wall. This is called ‘dab’.

People in the polar regions live in houses made up of snow blocks called Igloos. The floor in an Igloo is covered with the animal’s skin to keep it warm. Igloos are thus built out of bricks of ice.

The Changpas carry everything that they own on their horses and yaks. It takes them only two and a half hours to pack everything and move ahead. Within no time they put up their tents at the chosen place, the luggage is unpacked and their homes are ready.
The Changpa graze their goats at higher and colder places so that the goats have more and softer hair (fur). They stay high up on these mountains in very difficult conditions because that is where these goats can live. This is their life and their livelihood which is very difficult and full of hardships.

Many families in Srinagar live in a ‘donga’ which are boats that can be seen in Dal Lake and Jhelum river. From inside the ‘donga’ is just like a house with different rooms. Some old houses have a special type of window which comes out of the wall called dab.

Ladakh is a cold desert in India which lies in the Great Himalayas, on the eastern side of Jammu and Kashmir. It has the vast Karakoram Range in the North and in the south, it is bound by the Zanskar mountains.
During the winter season, the temperature in Ladakh remains around -40 degrees. The region does not receive much rainfall. It receives the lowest rainfall because of the great Himalayas which play an important role in controlling the monsoon. That is why Ladakh is called a cold desert.

Tashi said that roof is the most important part of house because it protected the interior of house and its members. It also provided them safety from rain, snow, etc

A single Kashmir Pashmina shawl consists of fine hand needle embroidery which takes a long time to complete. The handwork is unique for each artisan and the weaving cannot be passed from one artisan to another. So, it takes several months and even years to create a single piece of original Pashmina shawl. Moreover, it is because pashmina is very soft and delicate.

In places where the climate is hot, houses are generally built of bricks and stones. Such houses have thick walls and flat roof tops. Thick walls help to keep the inside of the house cool. Flat roof tops can be used as terrace.

Gaurav Jani packed a small tent, sleeping bag, plastic sheet, warm clothes and food that would remain fresh for some days. He also took his camera and extra cans for petrol.

Tashi’s house was a building with two floors. The house was made of stones which were kept one over the other. The walls were coated with a thick layer of mud and lime. The house looked like a shed from inside with a lot of hay stored there. It had wooden steps to reach the first floor. The ground floor was for keeping the animals and for storing necessary things. Sometimes, when it used to get too cold, they also moved down stairs. The ground floor had no windows. Thick tree trunks were used to make the roof strong. The roofs were flat and were used for drying chillies, orange, pumpkins and golden yellow corn.

Roof was an important part of Tashi’s house because they used to dry fruits and vegetables on the roof. fresh fruits and vegetables
This was done because during summer season they dried many fruits and vegetables and stored them for winters when they did not get fresh fruits and vegetables.

The roof of a house is made up different materials like bricks and cement, wood etc. This roof is used for drying clothes, preparing potato chips, papad badis, aam papad etc. It is also used for sleeping in summers, getting sunlight in winters etc.

The Changpas carried everything that they owned on their horses and yaks. It took them only two and a half hours to pack everything and move ahead. Within no time they put up their tents at the chosen place, the luggage was unpacked and their homes were ready.

The mountaineers carry oxygen cylinders with them when they climb mountains because when they climb mountains, as altitude increases, the amount of oxygen level in the atmospheric air decreases as trees are not found at higher altitudes.

Stilt houses also called pile dwellings or lake dwellings are houses raised on stilts (or piles) over the surface of the soil or a body of water. These type of houses are primarily used as protection against flood.