NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 1 –38Three Days to See (Helen Keller) — Let us explore
Book page 37 Updated on2026-09-05
Q1.
Do you know how persons with visual challenges are able to read and write? They read through touch with the help of Braille, a code of raised dots that represents the letters of the alphabet. This tactile code was developed over a period of nine years by Louis Braille, who became blind at a very young age due to an accident. Study the code given below and write your name using it. You may use bindis or grains of daal to make the dots that you can touch and feel.
Answer
How the code works. Every Braille character is one “cell” of six dot positions — two columns of three. The positions are numbered 1, 2, 3 down the left column and 4, 5, 6 down the right. A letter is made by raising some of those six positions.
One Braille cell — six dot positions, numbered 1–3 down the left column and 4–6 down the right.
Letter
Dots
Letter
Dots
Letter
Dots
A
1
J
2,4,5
S
2,3,4
B
1,2
K
1,3
T
2,3,4,5
C
1,4
L
1,2,3
U
1,3,6
D
1,4,5
M
1,3,4
V
1,2,3,6
E
1,5
N
1,3,4,5
W
2,4,5,6
F
1,2,4
O
1,3,5
X
1,3,4,6
G
1,2,4,5
P
1,2,3,4
Y
1,3,4,5,6
H
1,2,5
Q
1,2,3,4,5
Z
1,3,5,6
I
2,4
R
1,2,3,5
How to make it: Draw a row of six-dot cells on card, one cell per letter of your name. Stick a bindi or a grain of daal only on the raised positions. Then close your eyes and read your own name with a fingertip.
Sample answer: To write RAM you need three cells — R = dots 1,2,3,5; A = dot 1; M = dots 1,3,4. Digits use the same shapes as A to J with a number sign placed before them, which is why 1 looks like A and 0 looks like J on page 38.
Did you know? Louis Braille lost his sight at three, invented the code as a teenager, and had it ready by the age of twenty. World Braille Day is observed on 4 January, his birthday.
Q2.
Have you heard about the International Day of Persons with Disabilities? Find out when and how it is observed in India. Write your findings on a sheet and put it up on the class board.
Answer
When: The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is observed every year on 3 December. It was declared by the United Nations in 1992, and the UN announces a fresh theme each year.
How it is observed in India:
The President of India presents the National Awards for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities to outstanding individuals, institutions and employers.
The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) holds programmes, and camps distribute aids and appliances — tricycles, hearing aids, smart canes, Braille kits.
Schools and colleges hold assemblies, inclusive sports, sign-language demonstrations and accessibility audits of their own buildings.
Awareness is spread about the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, which recognises 21 disabilities, and about the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan).
What your sheet should carry: the date, the year the day began, this year's theme, two Indian schemes or laws, one photograph or drawing, and one line on what your own class can do — for example, checking whether your school has a ramp and a usable toilet.
Q3.
Do you want to know about sign language? Go to the link given below to learn about the Indian sign language.
Answer
The QR code and link on page 38 lead to material from the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC), under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Ask your teacher to open it, since it is a video resource.
What to look for and note down:
Indian Sign Language (ISL) is a full language with its own grammar — it is not Hindi or English translated into gestures, and it is not the same as American Sign Language.
A sign is made of four things: the handshape, the place where it is made, the movement, and the facial expression. Change any one and the meaning changes.
ISL has a two-handed fingerspelling alphabet, used for names and new words.
ISLRTC has published an ISL dictionary of thousands of signs and prepares NCERT textbook content in ISL.
Try This: Learn just three signs — namaste, thank you and friend — and greet a classmate with them. Helen Keller's essay is about what a person can receive from the world; sign language is about making sure the world can be received by everyone.