Q1.
Since ancient times, people have always built their homes near rivers or water bodies. Can you guess why?
Answer
Because a river gives people everything they need to live — water to drink, water for crops and animals, fish to eat, and an easy road for boats. Long ago there were no pipes and no tankers. If you wanted water, you had to live where the water was.
- Drinking, cooking and washing. Fresh water was needed every single day, and it had to be carried by hand. Living close to the river meant a short walk.
- Farming. Crops need water again and again. Land near a river is flat and its soil is soft and rich, so it grows food well.
- Animals. Cows, buffaloes and goats must drink daily, and grass grows green near water.
- Food from the water. Fish from the river were an easy and steady food.
- Travel and trade. Before roads, a boat on a river was the fastest way to carry people and goods.
- Work. Potters need clay, washermen need water, boatmen need a river. All these jobs are river jobs.
Why it is still true today: Look at any big Indian city and you will usually find a river beside it — Delhi on the Yamuna, Varanasi and Patna on the Ganga, Nashik and Rajahmundry on the Godavari, Surat on the Tapti. Water still comes from the river; it just comes through pipes and canals now, so we do not see the river doing its work.
Think about it: If your home gets water from a tap, ask an adult where that water comes from. Very often the answer is a river or a dam many kilometres away.