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NCERT Solutions for Class 5th The World Around Us Chapter 10 Story 6: The Cows that Went to Brazil! — Activity 4

Book page 172 Updated on2026-09-19

Q1.
1. With help of your teacher or an elder find out the names of at least 5 different breeds of cows.
Answer

Five Indian cow breeds are: Gir, Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Tharparkar and Kankrej. India has dozens more — ask an elder or a person who keeps cattle, because they will name the breeds of your district, which is what the activity really wants.

How to find out:

  1. Ask someone who keeps cows in your village or neighbourhood, or the person who delivers milk.
  2. Ask three questions: “What breed is this cow?”, “Where does this breed come from?”, “What is it good at?”
  3. If there is a veterinary hospital or a dairy near you, ask there too.
  4. Write the answers in a table like the one below, and add your own district's breed at the bottom.
BreedHome StateKnown for
GirGujaratA lot of milk; a broad, curved forehead and long drooping ears. One of the three breeds that went to Brazil
SahiwalPunjab regionReddish-brown; one of India's best milk breeds; gentle to handle
Red SindhiNow kept across north and south IndiaDeep red colour; good milk even in hot places
TharparkarRajasthanWhite or grey; lives on very little water and fodder in dry country
KankrejGujarat and RajasthanStrong; used both for milk and for pulling a plough or cart. Also went to Brazil
OngoleAndhra PradeshVery large and powerful. The third of the Brazil breeds
HallikarKarnatakaFamous for its strength in pulling carts
VechurKeralaOne of the smallest cattle in the world — an adult is only about waist high
RathiRajasthanBrown with white patches; a good milk breed of the desert districts
DeoniMaharashtraBlack and white; steady milk and strong bullocks
Why there are so many breeds: India is huge, and the weather in one part is nothing like the weather in another. A cow that thrives in the wet coast of Kerala would suffer in the dry heat of the Thar Desert. Over hundreds of years, farmers in each region kept the animals that did best there — and that is how each region ended up with its own breed. Each breed is a record of the place it comes from.
One thing people often mix up: Murrah is a famous Indian breed, but it is a breed of buffalo, not of cow. Most of the milk drunk in India actually comes from buffaloes. Ask which animal your milk comes from — the answer surprises many children.
Q2.
2. Make a list of a few things in your house or school that may have come from another part of the world. Find out where they originally came from. (Fill the table — Items: Clothing, Food, Sports, Musical instruments, Tree; columns: Names, Origin from. The first row is filled: Clothing — Jeans — America.)
Answer

Fill each row with one thing you actually have at home or in school, and write where it first came from. The first row is already done for you in the book: Clothing — Jeans — America. Here is the whole table filled in as a sample.

ItemsNamesOrigin fromHow you can check
ClothingJeansAmericaGiven in the book
FoodPotato (aloo)South AmericaAsk an elder whether their grandparents ate potato daily. Chilli, tomato, cashew and groundnut have the same story
SportsFootballEnglandCricket also came from England; basketball from America; volleyball from America
Musical instrumentsHarmoniumFrance (Europe)It came to India about two hundred years ago and was changed here to be played sitting on the floor. Guitar — Spain; violin — Italy; keyboard — Japan
TreeEucalyptus (safeda)AustraliaLook for its tall straight trunk and peeling bark by the roadside. Gulmohar — Madagascar; rubber tree — Brazil; cashew tree — Brazil

More things you could put in your own table

Thing in your house or schoolWhere it first came from
Paper in your notebookChina. Before paper reached India, people wrote on palm leaves and bark
Tea leavesThe tea plant grows wild in Assam, but drinking tea every day became an Indian habit only about a hundred years ago
Marigold in the puja thaliMexico
Dates and lemonsBrought by Arab traders, who took back Indian rice and cloth
Papaya, guava, pineapple, chikooCentral and South America
CoffeeAfrica, and it reached India through Arab lands
Badminton, table tennis, chessChess began in India and went out; badminton grew from an Indian game and came back with new rules
What you notice while filling this table: Almost nothing in an ordinary Indian house is purely from one place. The notebook is a Chinese idea, the potato in the sabzi is South American, the marigold on the door is Mexican, the harmonium in the bhajan is French — and the yoga on the roof, the sugar in the tea and the rice on the plate all went out from here. Your house is not a box. It is a meeting point.
Do it honestly: Write only what you can actually see at home or in school. If your family has no jeans, put a different piece of clothing and find out about that instead. The value of this activity lies in checking real things, not in copying a list.
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