India, a Home to Many

Imagine this scenario — A stranger knocks at your door at midnight. It is raining heavily outside, and the stranger seeks shelter for the night claiming that his car broke down while he was driving in the vicinity. Your family goes into a huddle to discuss the pros and cons of letting a stranger into the house at night. Form two groups to discuss the arguments for and against in this scenario.

Now extend this scenario to a country like India — when refugees seek shelter in India, will similar arguments apply?

What do you think dissolving the sugar in the milk without spilling it meant?

Are there communities in your neighbourhood whose ancestors might have come to India centuries ago and made it their home? Have a class discussion on what their experience may have been.

Identify similar values in any story or local tradition etc. known to you. You could ask your guardians or relatives too. Collect these stories and create a class manuscript. You could include illustrations.

On the outline of a world map, try to trace the routes that the communities mentioned in this chapter may have used to reach India. What types of physical geographies did they have to negotiate?

What are the key values intrinsic to Indian culture that enable it to welcome people of different backgrounds?

Homi Bhabha, Sam Maneckshaw, Ratan Tata, Fali Nariman, Nani Palkivala, and Cornelia Sorabji are a few names of Parsis who excelled in their respective fields. Find out more about people from other communities that made India their home and their contributions.

Take up a class project. Divide the class into groups. Each group takes up a small project to study a little more about the communities that we have been listed here. Share what you have gathered with your classmates through one of these ways — drama, posters, song, painting, etc.