A Shelter So High Class 5 EVS Chapter Notes

The chapter “A Shelter So High” is taken from Let’s Environmental Studies Textbook for students of JKBOSE. You have already read Question Answers of Chapter A Shelter So High in the last post. This post is about A Shelter So High Class 5 EVS Chapter Notes. Let’s get started:

A Shelter So High Class 5 EVS Chapter Notes

Introduction

The chapter “A Shelter So High” is an account of the journey of a traveller, Gaurav Jani who travelled from Mumbai to Ladakh. He describes the experiences of his trip in the chapter.

A Traveller’s Tale

The traveller Gaurav Jani travelled the highest roads in India on his bike. He named his bike “Loner”. He packed a small tent, sleeping bag, plastic sheet, warm clothes and food that would remain fresh for some days. He left Mumbai and reached Delhi after 3 days. Delhi looked similar to Mumbai and was tired of looking at the same kind of houses, made of cement, bricks, glass and steel.

Gaurav Jani was excited that I would be able to see wooden houses, houses with sloping roofs and those covered in snow. He had seen the pictures of such houses in many books. After leaving Delhi, he reached Manali after two days and from here he left for Leh in Ladakh. He travelled through the difficult and hilly roads of Jammu Kashmir UT.

Cold Desert (Leh)

Gaurav Jani reached Leh and for the first time in his life, he had seen such an area. It is a high, dry and flat region and is called a cold desert. The Ladakh region receives very less rainfall. There are snowcapped mountains and cold flat ground. There was a quiet street with beautiful houses in Leh. As he rode slowly through the street, he was followed by a group of children. They were welcoming him. Every one of the group wanted him to come to their house. Finally, Tashi dragged him to his house.

At Home with Tashi

Tashi’s home was a building with two floors. The walls of the house were made of stones and were covered with a thick layer of mud and lime. The ground floor of the house is used as a store and home for animals while Tashi’s family stay on the first floor. During winter, when there is too much cold, Tashi’s family also move downstairs. The ground floor of the building has no window and so the ground floor remains relatively warmer compared to the first floor.

The view from the roof of Tashi’s home was beautiful. The roofs of the houses in Leh and Ladakh are used to dry fruits, vegetables, and cow dung cakes in summer and for sitting in sunlight in winter. Every part of the houses in Leh and Ladakh was built to suit the needs of the people. The thick walls, a wooden floor and a wooden ceiling protect people from the cold.

People Living on the Top of the World

He climbed higher through tough zigzag, narrow and rocky mountainous roads to the rocky plains of Changthang. This place is at the height of about 5000 metres from sea level. The oxygen level in the air is less at this height and due to this, it becomes difficult to breathe in this place.

The Changpa

Then Gaurav Jani met a person named Namgyal and he came to know about Changpa. It is a tribe living in the high mountains. It has only 5000 people. They move with their goats and sheep and they are dependent on them for their needs. The goats of the Changpas are their only treasure. These goats are the source of world-famous Pashmina wool. Changpas graze their goats on the high mountains because at higher and colder places the goats have more and softer wool.

Changpas would live in tents and their tent is called Rebo. The design of their tent is more than a thousand years old. The tent is cone-shaped and is as big as a room. They would keep their sheep and goats in a place nearby their tent. They call this place lekha. The woman and young girls would count and take the animals out of the lekha.

The World-Famous Pashmina.

It is believed that a pashmina shawl is as warm as 6 sweaters. It is very thin yet very warm. The goats from which pashmina wool is obtained are found at very high altitudes of 5000 m or more. In winter, the temperature at these places drops below 0℃ (- 40℃). The goats have a coat of fine warm hair which protects them from extreme cold. During summer, the goats shed some of their hair.

A hair from the body of these goats is so fine that the thickness of 6 hair from the goats’ body is similar to the thickness of one hair of our head. The pashmina shawls are woven by hand. It is a difficult task and a single shawl needs 250 hours to get completely woven.

Towards Srinagar

After exploring Ladakh Gaurav Jani left for Srinagar via Kargil. He stayed in Srinagar for a few days and saw different types of houses.

Houses of Srinagar

Houseboat: Houseboats are houses on the water. Tourists love to stay in houseboats. They can be as long as 80 feet and around 8 to 9 feet wide.

Donga:  It is a type of houseboat. There are many families in Srinagar which live in a ‘donga’. These boats can be seen in Dal Lake and the Jhelum river. Donga boat is just like a house from the inside having different rooms.  

Khatamband: It is carved on wood and can be seen on the ceilings of houseboats and some big houses. It has a pattern that looks like a jigsaw puzzle.

Stone Houses: In the villages of Kashmir the houses are made of stones cut and kept one on top of the other and are coated with mud. Wood is also used and the houses have sloping roofs.

Dab: Some old houses in Kashmir have a special type of window which comes out of the wall. It is called ‘dab’. It has a beautiful wooden pattern. It is used for sitting and enjoying the view outside.

Mehraab: The doors and windows of the houses have beautiful arches termed Mehraab.

Finally, Gaurav left for Mumbai with a heavy heart.

That’s all we have about A Shelter So High Class 5 EVS Chapter Notes. Hope it has helped. Do share your views about this post in the comment section below.