Q1.
If we move westward on the map, you will notice a yellowish area. This area is the Thar Desert. What do you see?
Answer
Exactly what the book describes — a vast stretch of golden dunes, rugged terrain, and a wide-open sky. Looking at Fig. 1.21 and the map together, you can see:
- Sand dunes in wave-like ridges, some as high as 150 metres, with sharp crests shaped by the wind.
- Almost no green — a few thorny shrubs, no forest, no river lines on the map.
- A yellow colour on the physical map, standing for low, dry, sandy land.
- A traveller and camels — the animals best suited to crossing this terrain.
Why it is yellow on the map: the colour is showing bare sand and low altitude. Compare it with the dark green of the plains just to the east: the map is telling you, in one glance, that you have crossed from India's wettest farmland to its driest region.