Unity in Diversity, or 'Many in the One'

As a class activity, make lists of (1) the birthplaces of at least 5 classmates and the birthplaces of their parents; (2) the students' mother tongues and other languages known to them. Discuss the results in terms of diversity.

As a class activity, make a list of ingredients (grains, spices, etc.) that are used in your home.

Take any one vegetable and think of the number of different dishes you can prepare with it.

Explain how the example of the sari reflects both unity and diversity (in 100-150 words).

Are you aware of, or can you imagine, more uses for the sari?

Following the example of the sari, make a list of different styles you have seen for the dhoti — both as regards the fabric and the uses the dhoti can be put to. What conclusion can you draw?

What is your favourite festival and how is it celebrated in your region? Do you know whether it is celebrated in any other part of India, maybe under a different name?

During October–November, many major festivals take place in India. Make a list of the few main ones and their various names in different parts of the country.

Conduct a class discussion on the two quotations at the start of the chapter.

Read the National Anthem and its translation in the preliminary pages of this textbook. Where do you see the diversity? And where the unity? Write two or three paragraphs on this.

Select a few stories from the Pañchatantra and discuss how their message is still valid today. Do you know of any similar stories from your region?

Collect a few folk tales from your region and discuss their message.

Is there any ancient story that you have seen being depicted through a form of art? It could be a sculpture, a painting, a dance performance, a movie … Discuss with your classmates.

Discuss in class the following quotation by India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, when he travelled to many parts of India before Independence: 'Everywhere I found a cultural background which had exerted a powerful influence on their lives. … The old epics of India, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and other books, in popular translations and paraphrases, were widely known among the masses, and every incident and story and moral in them was engraved on the popular mind and gave a richness and content to it. Illiterate villagers would know hundreds of verses by heart and their conversation would be full of references to them or to some story with a moral, enshrined in some old classic.'