STORIES THAT TEACH
Just like Samir Ek and Samir Do became friends, you might have friends who are very different from you. You have probably eaten different kinds of food in their homes, celebrated different festivals with them, tried out the clothes they wear and learnt some of their languages as well.
You probably like reading and hearing stories and adventures about different animals, people, and even ghosts. Perhaps you even enjoy making up stories yourself! Many young people feel happy when they read a good story because it gives them lots of ideas to make up more stories. People who write stories get their ideas from all sorts of different places – from books, and real-life and from their imagination.
Some may have lived in forests close to animals and chosen to write about their fights and friendships. Others read real accounts of kings and queens and wrote stories about love and honour. Some dipped into their own childhood memories of school and friends and wrote stories of adventure.
Imagine if all the storytellers and writers that you have heard and read so far were forced to live in a place where all people wore the same two colours red and white, ate the same food (maybe potatoes!), took care of the same two animals, for example, the deer and the cat, and to entertain themselves played snakes and ladders. What kind of stories do you think they would write?
Activity:
1. Make a list of the food that you have eaten from different parts of India.
2. Make a list of the languages besides your mother tongue that you can speak at least one or two words of.
3. Imagine that you are a writer or an artist who lives in the place described above. Either write a story or draw a picture of your life here.
4. Do you think you would enjoy living in a place like this? List five different things that you would miss the most if you lived here.
Source: This topic is taken from NCERT TEXTBOOK