Q1.
Homage means ‘something that is said or done to show respect publicly for someone’. Whom should every Indian pay homage to? Share your answers with your classmates and the teacher.
Answer
Every Indian should pay homage to the men and women who gave their lives so that the rest of us could live in safety and freedom.
A good answer names people and says why they deserve homage. You could speak about:
- The soldiers of the Armed Forces — the more than 26,000 names etched on the tablets of the National War Memorial, from the Battle of Badgam in 1947 to the Kargil War of 1999 and after.
- The freedom fighters who won us Independence — from Rani Abbakka and Rani Lakshmibai to Bhagat Singh, Mahatma Gandhi and Rani Gaidinliu.
- The police, fire services and disaster-relief teams, who run towards danger when everyone else runs away from it.
- Doctors, nurses and sanitation workers, whose service during floods and epidemics keeps a whole city alive.
Sample answer: “I think every Indian should pay homage first to the soldiers of our Armed Forces. They stand at the border in the snow and in the desert so that my school opens every morning and my family sleeps without fear. I would also pay homage to the freedom fighters, because the country I live in was won by them.”
Why the word matters: homage is public respect. Feeling grateful in your heart is good; homage means saying it aloud — at the assembly, at a memorial, in a letter — so that others remember too.