North, South, East, West | CBSE Class 7 English Notes

This note covers "North, South, East, West", Shaana's travel postcards from a journey across India, with a summary, the route, characters, themes, style, vocabulary, grammar and answers to the textbook activities.

What is "North, South, East, West", and who is Shaana?

About the text

"North, South, East, West" is the third and last piece in Unit 3, Dreams and Discoveries, of Poorvi, the English textbook for Grade 7. It follows the story "My Brother's Great Invention" and the poem "Paper Boats".

It is made up of excerpts from a book of the same name by C.G. Salamander: eleven dated postcards, each written from a different stop on a long family trip. About the Book, at the front of the textbook, says the piece will help students appreciate the diversity of the country and its rich cultural and natural heritage.

Sources: NCERT, Poorvi, Textbook of English for Grade 7, Unit 3 Dreams and Discoveries, "North, South, East, West", printed pages 118 to 135, with the listening transcript on page 138 (reprint 2026-27).

Who is Shaana, and why does she write?

Shaana lives on Rameswaram island. With her parents, whom she calls Amma and Appa, she travels the length and breadth of India, exploring its many landscapes, people and cultures.

She writes postcards to her friends back at school, who, she is sure, are busy with their holiday homework.

What do the before-reading activities ask?

Talking about a trip (Activity I)

In pairs, the student describes a place they have enjoyed travelling to: who went along, how they travelled and what they learnt. The answer is the student's own.

One possible answer: "Last winter I went to my grandparents' village by bus with my parents, and I learnt how much care goes into growing food."

My State or Union Territory (Activity II)

The student notes six details about the State or Union Territory they live in: its part of the country (North, East, Northeast, West, South or Centre), its capital, language, river or rivers, a tourist attraction and a food. The answers depend on where the student lives.

States with "Pradesh" in their names (Activity III)

In pairs, students recall the states whose names include Pradesh, say which part of the country each is in, and add a special feature, using a table with four rows. The postcards name two such states, so those rows can be filled from the text.

The other rows come from the student's own knowledge of the map of India.

What happens in each postcard? A summary in order

The eleven postcards run from 30 April to 25 June; the year is printed only as 20XX.

30 April: the Thajiwas glacier, Kashmir

Writing to "everyone" at school, Shaana is way up north at the Thajiwas glacier in Kashmir, wrapped in four layers of clothes. Her parents enjoy a snowball fight, though they say last year had much more snow, and her gloveless hands shake too much to write.

Below the first postcard, a man in a red jacket and purple woolly cap, a woman in a green coat with a pink cap and scarf, and a girl in a yellow jacket, blue scarf and red earmuffs each raise a snowball in the snow, with pale blue shapes of ice behind them. The girl in the picture wears blue gloves, although the postcard says Shaana's hands are shaking from not wearing any.

Reference: NCERT Class 7 Poorvi, printed page 119

10 May: Himachal Pradesh

To her "class", Shaana writes from a quiet mountain cabin in Himachal Pradesh, where the chirping of colourful birds wakes her at sunrise. Amma says the "bears" she hears at night are only Appa snoring, though Shaana would love to hug a real one.

Beside the postcard, a girl in a pink coat and a striped yellow scarf hugs a large, smiling brown bear. The bear sits inside a cloud-shaped bubble of starry night sky and mountains, so the meeting is one Shaana only imagines.

Reference: NCERT Class 7 Poorvi, printed page 120

17 May: a treehouse in Arunachal Pradesh

Writing to "everyone", Shaana has learnt that Arunachal Pradesh, far off in the east, is nowhere near Himachal. The family walks through a forest to their treehouse; she jokes that one blink there could get a person lost. It is her favourite stop so far, and she hopes to see red pandas.

24 May: the Sundarbans, West Bengal

To her "classmates", Shaana writes from the Sundarbans in West Bengal, where Amma tells her such places are wetlands. Shaana is amazed that mangroves grow in seawater, while Amma is sad at how much the area floods today. Shaana hopes the crocodiles and snake they saw from the boat stay behind.

30 May: the desert in Gujarat

Writing to "everyone" after two and a half days of travel from east to west, Shaana finds the desert in Gujarat hot, dry and sandy, like a beach with no sea. She loves the colourful clothes and scores 88 per cent in Amma's surprise test.

7 June: rafting on the Narmada river

To her "class", Shaana calls this the best day ever. A six-hour drive east brings them to the Narmada river, where wild, scary rafting soaks her and leaves her wanting more. Appa, who says the river once held far more water, vows never to raft again.

12 June: plateaus in Goa

Writing to her "classmates" while her parents sleep, Shaana gazes out at the lovely plateaus, hills and beaches of Goa, in the southwest. The train's many tunnels no longer scare her, and she hopes the class can tour the plateaus together one day.

17 June: Chennai and the way to Puducherry

To her "friends", Shaana writes that after travelling south they are back in the same state as home. After reaching Chennai, they learn to surf on the way to Puducherry, and her parents splash each other like children, so she jokes that she had to control them.

22 June: across the Pamban bridge

A very short card to "everyone" follows the train ride across the sea on the Pamban bridge, which amazes Shaana. Nearly home, she will deliver her last letter by hand.

24 June: Olaikaadu beach

To her "classmates", Shaana describes one last stop at Olaikaadu beach. Amma wants to teach her to dive, but no suit fits her, so she floats and watches the fish while her parents dive, and they collect pebbles for her friends.

A girl in a red swimming cap, goggles and a blue swimsuit floats in a yellow ring at the surface. Below her, two divers in black suits, with red and yellow air tanks and black flippers, swim over coral and sea plants among small red fish and shoals of dark fish.

Reference: NCERT Class 7 Poorvi, printed page 124

25 June: home, and a card to Amma and Appa

The last card, written at home, goes to Amma and Appa. Shaana will miss the forests, glaciers, deserts, wetlands, plateaus and mountains, and the new languages and people, and she hopes to travel like this again with their friends.

How does the journey cross the map of India?

The title names the four directions, and the postcards keep track of them. The table is built only from the postcards.

How are direction words used?

Sometimes a direction says where a place lies, as when Shaana places Himachal in the north. Sometimes it says which way the family moves, as when they drive east from the desert or travel south towards home. In Himachal, directions are even playful: birds sing at sunrise in the east, while the "bears" growl in the west.

The family travels by train, by road, by boat and by raft.

On an outline map of India, mark the eleven stops in date order, from the Thajiwas glacier to home on Rameswaram island, join them with arrows, and label each leg with any direction the postcards give.

Who are the characters, and what is each like?

Shaana

Shaana writes every card, so the reader sees the whole trip through her eyes. Each quality below is tied to a postcard.

Shaana also changes over the trip. On 17 May she is only beginning to enjoy herself; by the end she longs to travel again.

Amma

Amma, Shaana's mother, acts as her guide and teacher: she explains what wetlands are, sets a surprise test and offers to teach her to dive. She is saddened by the Sundarbans floods, and she jokes that the "bears" are Appa snoring.

Appa

Appa, Shaana's father, remembers how places used to be, such as the Narmada when it held more water, and he is often the target of the family's jokes: his snoring passes for bears, and one rafting trip scares him off for good.

Amma and Appa together

Both parents are energetic and playful, from snowball fights to splashing and diving, and Shaana's joke that she must control them turns the usual roles of parent and child upside down.

The people back home

• Shaana's classmates receive ten of the eleven cards.
• PT Miss and Library Ma'am are two people at school to whom she sends her love in the first card.

What themes and message do the postcards carry?

Theme 1: travel as discovery and wonder

Every stop teaches Shaana something new: that Arunachal is far from Himachal, that mangroves grow in seawater, that rivers can be wild. Her exclamations show her wonder, which fits the unit's title, Dreams and Discoveries.

Theme 2: the diversity of India

In less than two months Shaana moves from glacier to desert to sea, and her last card adds new languages and people: diversity of land and culture runs through the whole text.

Theme 3: a changing environment

Three remarks hint that nature is changing: less snow at the glacier, more flooding in the Sundarbans and less water in the Narmada.

The postcards do not explain these changes. Each one comes from what the adults say, not from anything Shaana can compare for herself.

Theme 4: family, friendship and home

The trip is a family adventure full of shared jokes, yet Shaana never forgets her friends: she writes to them, brings them pebbles and wants them along next time. The journey ends at home on her island.

Theme 5: overcoming fear

By the Goa card Shaana has outgrown her old fear of tunnels, a small sign that travel is helping her grow up.

What is the message in one line?

Travelling with open eyes teaches more than any map: India is vast and varied, its natural places are changing, and experiences are best when they are shared.

How is a postcard written, and how does Shaana use the form?

What are the parts of each postcard?

1. Date, at the top: day, month and a year shown only as 20XX.
2. Greeting, a friendly opening followed by a comma.
3. Body, a few short paragraphs about the place, what the family did and how Shaana felt.
4. Sign-off, a closing phrase followed by a comma, with her name on the next line.

How do the greetings and sign-offs vary?

The greetings and sign-offs are informal because the cards go to friends. The last card changes its reader: written at home to her parents, it looks back over the whole trip instead of reporting one stop.

What is special about the language and style of the postcards?

Tone

The tone is cheerful, chatty and excited, like a child talking to friends. Now and then it turns thoughtful, as when the adults mention less snow or the flooding, or nervous, as with the crocodiles and the rapids.

Style

Sentences are short and simple, with everyday words and contractions such as I'm, won't and can't. Each card mixes three things: what Shaana sees, what the family does, and a feeling or a joke.

Which devices do the postcards use?

The humour does not mock any place or its people; it is aimed mostly at her parents or at her own fears, which keeps the postcards warm.

Which key quotations matter most?

But they say there was much more snow last year.

Postcard: 30 April, the Thajiwas glacier. Why it matters: the first hint of a changing environment.

I thought all the Pradesh states sat next to each other.

Postcard: 17 May, Arunachal Pradesh. Why it matters: travel corrects what Shaana believed about the map of India.

I never knew such a place existed

Postcard: 24 May, the Sundarbans. Why it matters: her sense of wonder at the wetlands and mangroves.

It's like a beach without the sea!

Postcard: 30 May, Gujarat. Why it matters: a simile in which the island girl describes the desert through what she knows.

I used to be afraid of tunnels, but I'm not any more.

Postcard: 12 June, Goa. Why it matters: a contrast that shows her growing braver.

I hope we get to travel like this again

Postcard: 25 June, home. Why it matters: the journey ends with a wish to travel again, this time with friends.

What words does the chapter teach?

Which words are explained beside the postcards?

Matching words to pictures (Let us learn I)

Words for situations (Let us learn II)

Each situation matches one word from the box: blink, scary, existed, amazing, splashed and floating. Number 1, a boy too afraid to sleep after a loud noise in the night, is done in the book: scary.

• 2. A bookstore near the house that has since moved to the town: existed.
• 3. Flashes of light that make her shut and open her eyes: blink.
• 4. Children throwing water at each other in a pool: splashed.
• 5. A grandmother's beautiful home among paddy fields, a great experience: amazing.
• 6. Clouds moving across the sky: floating.

Every word in the box also appears in the postcards: blink in the forest joke, existed at the Sundarbans, scary on the Narmada, splashed near Puducherry, amazing at the Pamban bridge and floating at Olaikaadu beach.

The travel word grid (Let us learn III)

The grid has eleven rows of ten letters. Six travel words from the lesson hide in it, reading across or down, and the last letter of each is printed in bold.

SEA can also be read across row 6, but its last letter is not in bold, so it is not one of the six.

How does subject-verb agreement work?

What is subject-verb agreement?

A verb must suit its subject: its form depends on whether the subject is singular or plural, and on whether it is in the third person. Matching the verb to the subject in this way is called subject-verb agreement.

Three sentences from the postcards (Let us learn IV)

What are the rules, with the book's examples?

1. Words in between: a subject and its verb must still agree when extra words or phrases separate them. The formation of paragraphs is important in writing. The subject is formation, not paragraphs.
2. Subjects taken one by one: when the subjects are considered individually, the verb is singular. Every man and woman has the right to vote.
3. Collective nouns such as class, committee, audience and team can be singular or plural, depending on the context. When the group acts together as a single unit, the noun counts as singular and needs a singular verb. The committee decides on the new policy tomorrow.
4. Indefinite pronouns: each, either, every, much and neither always take singular verbs. Each of the children was given a gift.
5. Plural-looking subjects: subjects that end in s but refer to one thing are singular. Mathematics is an interesting subject.
6. Pair of: nouns such as glasses, scissors, pants and tongs are plural, but take a singular verb when pair of comes before them, because pair is then the subject. This pair of scissors is sharp.
7. Or and nor: when subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb matches the subject closer to it. Neither the students nor the teacher wants to cancel the trip. Either the manager or the employees are responsible for the mistake.

What are the answers to Let us learn V?

What do the listening and speaking tasks ask?

Listening: how Agartala got its name

The student listens to a girl's short talk about how Agartala got its name and why agar matters, and chooses the correct option for five questions.

Two options need care. In question 4, "when the tree dies" is wrong: instead of dying, the tree produces agar oil, a dark, sticky and sweet-smelling substance that guards it against more infection.

In question 5, the talk says hand carvings, not wood carvings. Option (i) pairs incense, which the talk mentions, with edible oil, which it does not, so (ii) is the best-supported option.

The talk adds that Agartala is the capital of Tripura, and that agarwood, called the wood of the gods, is among the rarest and most expensive woods in the world. The tree was once almost extinct, but thanks to people's care it can now be found in almost every house in northern Tripura.

Speaking: travel preferences

The student marks a preference in each of seven pairs: bus or train; family trip or school trip; beaches or mountains; adventure activities or sightseeing; winter or summer; historic monuments or wildlife sanctuaries; a short or a long trip.

In pairs, students then explain their choices, using the book's phrases, such as "I prefer... to... because..." and "Given a choice, I would go for... over... as...". One possible set of answers, borrowing Shaana's tastes:

• I prefer the train to the bus because I can look out of the window at hills and tunnels.
• Beaches appeal to me more than mountains, as I love the water.
• I would rather try adventure activities than go sightseeing, because rafting and surfing are exciting.

What do the writing and exploring tasks ask?

Writing: an application for leave

The student imagines travelling to their hometown for a family event and writes to the Principal asking for leave of absence. The application gives the length of the leave, the reason, and how missed schoolwork will be completed. The book's format runs in this order:

1. The sender's address (house number and street, city, State or Union territory) and the date.
2. The receiver's address: The Principal, the school's name, city, and State or Union territory.
3. A subject line asking for leave for a stated number of days, then Dear Madam or Dear Sir.
4. The body: the days and dates, the reason, an assurance about schoolwork, and a polite request.
5. Yours sincerely, followed by the name, class, section and roll number.

One possible body, with the dates in square brackets for the student to fill:

Subject: Request for leave for three days. Dear Madam, I am writing to request three days leave, from [date] to [date]. I need it to attend my cousin's wedding in my hometown. I would like to assure you that I would collect the notes from my classmates and finish all the work I miss. I would be grateful if you could grant me the leave.

Exploring I: the crossword of States and Union Territories

The crossword has 16 clues, 8 across and 8 down. Each clue names something well known, mostly a place (14 Across is a kind of painting), and the answer is the State or Union Territory it belongs to.

Note: None of these sixteen places appears in Shaana's postcards, so the answers come from an atlas or general knowledge, not from the chapter. The shared squares help to check each answer: 7 Across crosses 1, 5, 6 and 3 Down; 11 Across starts on a square of 6 Down; and 12, 14 and 15 Across all cross 10 Down.

Exploring II: ancient and unique places

The book gives two examples of ancient places on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

• Kailasa, one of the majestic cave temples of Ellora. They were carved from vertical cliffs of basalt in the Sahyadri hills.
• Rani-ki-Vav, the Queen's Stepwell, at Patan, Gujarat. Stepwells, built in ancient times across the Indian subcontinent, are a special kind of water source and store. Over time they changed from simple pits in sandy soil into grand buildings of many storeys, true works of art and architecture.

The student then finds out about unique places in their own village, region or state and shares the details in class; this answer is the student's own.

Exploring III: the Hornbill festival

The Hornbill festival is a unique festival held every year in Kisama village, near Kohima, the capital of Nagaland. Working in groups of four, students find out when it is held, who takes part, what it is for and what events take place. A drawing beside the task shows a black and white bird with a large, curved yellow beak on a leafy branch.

How can the textbook questions be answered from the postcards?

Let us discuss: places and activities

Row 6 names Chennai, but the surfing happens on the way from Chennai to Puducherry. The table also leaves out three stops: the Sundarbans, Goa and the Pamban bridge.

Extract 1: the Sundarbans

1. (i) D. wonder. Shaana is amazed that such a place exists and that mangroves can grow in seawater; her exclamation shows surprise and delight, not pride, hope or relief.
2. (ii) Amma is sad about the frequent flooding in Sundarbans because the wetland now floods more than it used to, a sign that this special place is changing.
3. (iii) Her wish about the crocodiles and the lonely snake: "I hope they don't follow us home."
4. (iv) A. Both are true, and the reason explains the assertion. Shaana asks how everyone is because her friends are on her mind, and asking whether they miss her yet shows she is thinking of them.

Note: The card never says in so many words that Shaana misses her friends. The assertion is drawn from her two questions at the end of the card.

Extract 2: Goa at night

1. (i) The speaker chooses to stay awake because she loves looking out of the window at the plateaus, hills and beaches.
2. (ii) She means the plateaus are so lovely that her friends would hardly believe it without seeing them; she is full of admiration and wants to share it.
3. (iii) A. from fear to comfort. She used to be afraid of tunnels, but no longer is.
4. (iv) Her wish indicates her sense of connection as well as the value she places on shared experiences with her peers.

Answering the seven questions

1. Why might Shaana have been scared of tunnels? She does not say why. One possible answer: a tunnel is dark and closed in, and when the train enters one the view outside suddenly vanishes, which can frighten a young child.

2. Did Amma and Appa enjoy themselves like children? Yes. They throw snowballs at the glacier and splash each other near Puducherry, behaving like children so that Shaana jokes she had to control them, and they still have the energy to dive at Olaikaadu beach.

3. What do less snow and more flooding indicate? They indicate that the environment in these places is changing over time: the glacier holds less snow than a year before, and the wetland floods more than it used to. Appa's remark that the Narmada once had much more water points the same way.

4. How do the visits show the diversity of India's geography? Her stops range from glaciers in Kashmir and mountains in Himachal Pradesh to a thick forest in Arunachal Pradesh, mangrove wetlands in the Sundarbans, a hot desert in Gujarat, the fast Narmada, Goa's plateaus and beaches, and the sea at the Pamban bridge.

5. How does Shaana's language show excitement, curiosity and fear? Excitement comes through exclamations and her repeated "you won't believe". Curiosity shows in her questions and discoveries, such as her surprise that such a place existed. Fear shows in honest admissions: the scary rafting, her hope that the crocodiles will not follow them home, and her old fear of tunnels.

6. What might Shaana have learnt, and how would it affect her view of India? She learns facts, such as how far Arunachal is from Himachal and that mangroves grow in seawater; she notices signs of change in nature, gets over her fear of tunnels, and meets new languages and people. She would now see India as a huge country of many landscapes and cultures, far larger than her island, and value it more.

7. Why might the author present the text as postcards? One possible answer: each card gives a short, lively snapshot of one place, and the dates show the order and pace of the journey. The first-person voice makes the trip personal and real, and the reader feels like a classmate opening Shaana's mail.

Glossary

• Postcard: a card for a short message; each of Shaana's eleven postcards has a date, a greeting, a brief body and a sign-off
• Excerpt: a short part taken from a longer piece of writing; this chapter gives excerpts from C.G. Salamander's North, South, East, West
• Glacier: a large mass of ice; Shaana sees white and blue glaciers in Kashmir
• Wetlands: places like the Sundarbans; the matching picture shows green land broken up by channels and pools of water
• Mangroves: trees that, Shaana discovers in the Sundarbans wetlands of West Bengal, are able to grow in seawater
• Plateau: a raised area of flat land; Shaana admires the plateaus of Goa from the train
• Treehouse: a small house built in a tree; the family walks through a thick forest in Arunachal Pradesh to reach theirs
• Rafting: riding down a fast river in an air-filled rubber boat, as on the Narmada
• Surf: here, to ride a wave to the shore while standing on a long board
• Dive: here, to swim underwater with breathing equipment; past tense dove
• Pebbles: small, smooth stones; Shaana collects some at Olaikaadu beach for her friends
• Subject-verb agreement: choosing the verb form that suits the subject, depending on whether it is singular or plural and in the third person

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: Shaana writes all her postcards to her parents. Correct: ten cards go to her friends at school; only the last, on 25 June, is addressed to Amma and Appa.
• Misconception: the chapter is one continuous story told by a narrator. Correct: it is a set of excerpts, eleven dated postcards, each in Shaana's own voice.
• Misconception: bears growl outside the cabin in Himachal Pradesh. Correct: Shaana only thinks she hears bears; Amma says it is Appa snoring.
• Misconception: Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh lie next to each other. Correct: Shaana herself thought so, but learns that Himachal is in the north and Arunachal all the way in the east.
• Misconception: Shaana dives with her parents at Olaikaadu beach. Correct: there are no diving suits in her size, so she floats and watches the fish while her parents dive.
• Misconception: Appa is the boldest rafter in the family. Correct: he is so scared that he decides never to raft again, while Shaana wants to go back.
• Misconception: in a sentence with either... or, the verb agrees with the first subject. Correct: it matches the subject closer to it, as in Either the tour guide or the tourists have to arrive first.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. In the Sundarbans, Amma tells Shaana that such places are wetlands, and Shaana is surprised that a place like this exists and that mangrove trees can grow in seawater. State two things Shaana discovers at the Sundarbans. [2 marks]

1. She learns that places like the Sundarbans are called wetlands, a kind of place she never knew existed.
2. She discovers that trees called mangroves can grow in seawater, which amazes her.

Q2. Two rules of subject-verb agreement are: two or more nouns joined by "and" take a plural verb; and when subjects are joined by "or" or "nor", the verb matches the subject closer to it. Choose the correct verb and give the rule: (a) Amma and Appa (is/are) fast asleep. (b) Neither the crocodiles nor the snake (follow/follows) the family home. [2 marks]

1. (a) Amma and Appa are fast asleep: the subject is two nouns joined by and, so the verb is plural.
2. (b) Neither the crocodiles nor the snake follows the family home: the verb matches the closer subject, the snake, which is singular.

Q3. Shaana's parents say the Thajiwas glacier had much more snow the year before; Amma is sad about how much the Sundarbans flood today; and Appa says the Narmada once held a lot more water, which made rafting scarier. Explain three signs of change in nature that the postcards hint at. [3 marks]

1. The glacier in Kashmir now has less snow than it had a year earlier, as the parents point out.
2. The Sundarbans wetland floods so much today that Amma is sad; the word today suggests it was not always like this.
3. The Narmada river carries less water than it used to, according to Appa, so even the rafting is less scary than it once was.

Q4. Shaana's cards open with a date, such as 30 April 20XX, and a greeting, such as "Hi everyone" or "Dear class". A short body tells of the place, what the family did and how she felt, and a sign-off, such as "Love" or "Your best friend", comes before her name. All but the last card go to her friends. Explain the four parts of a postcard, using Shaana's cards as examples. [4 marks]

1. The date comes first and tells the reader when the card was written, such as 30 April 20XX; together the dates show the order of the journey.
2. The greeting addresses the reader in a friendly way, such as "Hi everyone" or "Dear class", because the cards go to her friends.
3. The body is the short message itself: it describes the place, what the family did and how Shaana felt there.
4. The sign-off closes the card warmly, such as "Love" or "Your best friend", followed by her name, Shaana.

Q5. Shaana visits the white and blue Thajiwas glacier in Kashmir, needing four layers of clothes; the mountains of Himachal Pradesh; a thick forest in Arunachal Pradesh; the Sundarbans wetlands, where mangroves grow in seawater; a hot, dry, sandy desert in Gujarat, where she loves the colourful clothes; the fast Narmada river; and Goa's plateaus, hills and beaches. Her last card mentions new languages and different people. Using five pieces of evidence, show how the postcards highlight the diversity of India. [5 marks]

1. The Thajiwas glacier in Kashmir, with its white and blue ice, is cold enough to need four layers of clothes.
2. The mountains of Himachal Pradesh and the thick forest of Arunachal Pradesh are two very different landscapes.
3. The Sundarbans wetlands in West Bengal are a different landscape again, where mangroves grow in seawater.
4. The desert of Gujarat is hot, dry and sandy, the opposite of the glacier, and the fast Narmada and Goa's plateaus, hills and beaches add more variety.
5. The diversity is cultural as well as natural: Shaana loves the colourful clothes in Gujarat, and her last card mentions new languages and different people.

Q6. Shaana is amazed to learn that mangroves grow in seawater. She loves rafting on the Narmada and wants to go back. She used to be afraid of tunnels but is not any more. She sends her love to PT Miss and Library Ma'am, asks her friends if they miss her, and collects pebbles for them. She passes Amma's surprise test with 88 per cent. Describe five qualities of Shaana, each with evidence. [5 marks]

1. She is curious and eager to learn, marvelling that mangroves can grow in seawater.
2. She is adventurous, since she loves rafting on the Narmada and wants to go back.
3. She grows braver during the trip: she used to be afraid of tunnels, but she is not any more.
4. She is a loyal and caring friend: she sends her love to PT Miss and Library Ma'am, asks if her friends miss her, and collects pebbles for them.
5. She is a good student, passing Amma's surprise test with 88 per cent even while she is travelling.

Q7. Amma and Appa throw snowballs at the glacier, splash each other near Puducherry and dive at Olaikaadu beach, where Amma wants to teach Shaana to dive. Amma explains that places like the Sundarbans are called wetlands, is sad about the flooding there, sets a surprise test in the desert and jokes that the "bears" Shaana hears are Appa snoring. Appa says the Narmada used to have more water, and after rafting he decides never to raft again. Describe Amma and Appa in six points. [6 marks]

1. Both are playful and young at heart: they throw snowballs at the glacier and splash water on each other near Puducherry.
2. Amma is a teacher on the road, telling Shaana that places like the Sundarbans are called wetlands and setting her a surprise test in the desert.
3. Amma cares about nature, since she is sad about how much the Sundarbans flood today.
4. Amma has a sense of humour, joking that the growling bears are only Appa snoring.
5. Appa remembers how places used to be, saying the Narmada once had more water, but the rafting frightens him so much that he decides never to go again.
6. Both are energetic and adventurous: they dive at Olaikaadu beach, and Amma even wants to teach Shaana to dive.

Key takeaways

• "North, South, East, West" is the third piece in Unit 3, Dreams and Discoveries, of Poorvi: excerpts by C.G. Salamander told in eleven dated postcards.
• Shaana lives on Rameswaram island and travels the length and breadth of India with Amma and Appa, writing to her friends back at school.
• The route runs from the Thajiwas glacier to Himachal, Arunachal, the Sundarbans, Gujarat, the Narmada, Goa, Chennai, the Pamban bridge and Olaikaadu beach, then home.
• Each card has a date, a greeting, a short body and a sign-off; the last one, written at home on 25 June, is addressed to Amma and Appa.
• Shaana is curious, adventurous, funny, honest about her fears and loyal to her friends, and she loses her fear of tunnels on the way.
• Less snow at the glacier, more flooding in the Sundarbans and less water in the Narmada hint that nature in these places is changing.
• The style is chatty and cheerful, using exclamations, questions to friends, similes, exaggeration, contrast, humour and words of direction.
• Subject-verb agreement: subjects joined by and take a plural verb, pair of takes a singular verb, and with or or nor the closer subject decides.

Test yourself

Where does Shaana live, and how does she know she is almost home?

She lives on Rameswaram island. After crossing the Pamban bridge, with the ocean on both sides, she writes that she is almost home.

What does Shaana think she hears in Himachal Pradesh, and what is it really?

She thinks she hears bears growling in the west after dark, but Amma says it is just Appa snoring.

What did Shaana believe about the Pradesh states before reaching Arunachal?

She thought all the Pradesh states sat next to each other, but learnt that Himachal is in the north and Arunachal is all the way in the east.

How long did the journey from West Bengal to Gujarat take?

It took two and a half days, travelling right across the country from east to west.

Why does Shaana not dive at Olaikaadu beach?

There were no diving suits in her size, so she spent the day floating and looking at the fish while her parents dove below her.

Choose the correct verb: A pair of sunglasses (is/are) essential when travelling.

Is. When pair of comes before a plural noun such as sunglasses, pair is the subject, so the verb is singular.

What does the name Agartala mean, according to the listening task?

It means under the agar tree: agar is a type of tree, and tala means underneath.