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NCERT Solutions Poorvi Chapter 3 Spectacular Wonders — Let us think and reflect

Book page 142 to 144 Updated on2026-09-05

Q1.
Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow. “India is home to some of the most mystifying natural phenomena that surprise and spark our imagination.” (i) Replace the underlined phrase with one from the extract. India is the birthplace of several rare species of flora and fauna that thrive in its diverse ecosystems.
Answer
India is home to several rare species of flora and fauna that thrive in its diverse ecosystems.

The phrase is home to replaces is the birthplace of.

Why it is more than a synonym. ‘Birthplace' says only where something began; ‘is home to' says where something lives and belongs now. For flora and fauna that “thrive in its diverse ecosystems”, the second is the accurate one — the species are not merely born in India, they continue there. Notice too that ‘is home to' is a set phrase used of countries, forests and cities, and always takes to, never of.
Q2.
(ii) What does the phrase ‘nature’s unusual side’ suggest about the phenomena described?
Answer

It suggests that these are events in which nature behaves in ways that break the rules we expect of it — they are entirely natural, yet they look impossible.

What we expect of natureWhat these phenomena do instead
Water flows downhill and objects roll down slopesAt the Magnetic Hill, parked vehicles seem to roll uphill — “a place where gravity takes a backseat!”
The sea stays where it isAt Chandipur it retreats 2–5 km and comes back, daily
Water is dark at nightAt Kumbalangi it glows
Bridges are built of stone and cementIn Meghalaya they are grown from roots and last for centuries
The word to hold on to is mystifying — the chapter glosses it as “strange or impossible to explain”. The phrase does not claim these things are supernatural. Every one has an explanation: an optical illusion caused by the alignment of slopes and the horizon, an ebb tide, bioluminescence from micro-planktons. What ‘nature's unusual side' means is that the explanation does not remove the wonder — the last paragraph says exactly this, calling them a blend of “scientific intrigue with the magic of folklore”.
Q3.
(iii) Complete the similarity by choosing the correct option. spark: imagination : : ______________ : ______________. A. inspiration; creativity B. wonder; amazement C. effort; reward D. knowledge; books
Answer

A. inspiration; creativity

The relationship in spark : imagination is a small starting cause and the large thing it sets going. A spark does not resemble imagination and does not follow it — it ignites it.

OptionRelationship it showsMatch?
A. inspiration; creativityInspiration is the spark that sets creativity going — the same cause-and-kindling relationYes
B. wonder; amazementTwo near-synonyms, not a cause and its effectNo
C. effort; rewardCause and result, but a reward is earned and given by somebody else — it is not kindledNo
D. knowledge; booksReversed: books are the source, knowledge the resultNo
Method for analogies: first put the given pair into a sentence — “A spark starts imagination.” Then read each option into the same sentence and keep the one that still makes sense. “Inspiration starts creativity” works; “Wonder starts amazement” does not.
Q4.
(iv) Identify whether the following statement is true or false. Some natural phenomena can surprise people.
Answer

True.

The extract says it in its own words: India is home to natural phenomena “that surprise and spark our imagination”. The word some in the statement also matches the extract's some of the most mystifying — the claim is limited, not sweeping.

Watch the quantifier in true/false questions. Had the statement read “All natural phenomena surprise people”, it would have been false — sunrise, rain and falling leaves are natural and surprise nobody. Words like all, always, never, only, every are where such statements usually go wrong, so read them first.
Q5.
Read the given extract and answer the questions that follow. “Have you seen things disappearing in front of your eyes? Well, such things happen at times, when we keep things at some place, and just forget where we have kept them. But, what if there’s a sea that disappears? This happens in Odisha. It is a beach in the Balasore district where one can witness the sea disappearing mysteriously—the Chandipur Beach which is known for its unique feature of playing hide-and-seek with its visitors.” (i) Complete the following sentence with a suitable reason. The writer’s most likely purpose to introduce the information about the Chandipur Beach phenomenon with a question is to ____________________. (engage the reader’s curiosity and create a sense of suspense/draw the reader to learn more about the unusual phenomenon/set the tone for the surprising nature of the content that follows)
Answer
The writer's most likely purpose is to engage the reader's curiosity and create a sense of suspense.

Look at how the opening is arranged. The writer asks a question about something completely ordinary — mislaying an object at home — lets you agree with it, and then springs the real subject: “But, what if there's a sea that disappears?” The word But is the hinge, and the reader is now holding a question that only the next paragraph can answer.

Why this is the best of the three options. All three are true, but the other two are effects of the first. Because your curiosity has been engaged, you read on to learn more; and because a question has been left hanging, the tone of surprise is set. The question itself does one thing — it makes you want the answer. That is the purpose; the rest follows.
The same technique appears twice more in this chapter: “Imagine building a bridge without the use of cement, stones, concrete, etc. Is it possible?” and “Can a forest exist in a coastal zone?” Each time, an information text is turned into a small suspense by asking before telling.
Q6.
(ii) Select the option that is correct for both Assertion (A) and Reason (R). (A): Chandipur Beach in Odisha is known for its unique feature of the sea disappearing. (R): The tides retreat drastically, exposing the Chandipur beach. A. Both (A) and (R) are true, and (R) is the correct explanation of (A). B. Both (A) and (R) are true, but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A). C. (A) is true, but (R) is false. D. (A) is false, but (R) is true.
Answer

A. Both (A) and (R) are true, and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

StepCheck
Is (A) true?Yes — “the Chandipur Beach which is known for its unique feature of playing hide-and-seek with its visitors.”
Is (R) true?Yes — “It retreats by 2–5 km during ebb tide… and comes back to the shore at the time of high tide.”
Does (R) explain (A)?Yes — the retreating tide is precisely why the sea appears to vanish. Remove the tide and there is no phenomenon.
How to attack an Assertion–Reason question: answer three separate questions in this order — is A true, is R true, and does R cause or explain A? Only if all three are yes do you choose option A. A common trap is a reason that is perfectly true but irrelevant (option B) — for instance, “Chandipur is in Balasore district” is true and explains nothing.
Q7.
(iii) What does the term ‘unique’ suggest about the beach in Balasore? A. very popular B. one of its kind C. ancient place D. far from city
Answer

B. one of its kind

Unique means that there is nothing else like it — not that it is old, famous or remote. The extract uses it exactly so: “known for its unique feature of playing hide-and-seek with its visitors.” Very few beaches in the world let visitors walk out on to the seabed and back twice a day.

A word worth getting right. Because unique means the only one, it cannot logically be compared: something is not ‘very unique' or ‘more unique' than something else. Write ‘unusual' or ‘remarkable' when you want a comparison, and keep unique for what is genuinely one of a kind — as the chapter also does for Lonar, “the only crater in India formed in basaltic rock by a meteorite impact”.
Q8.
(iv) What does the writer want to convey with the use of the phrase ‘playing hide-and-seek with its visitors’?
Answer

The phrase turns a tide into a game. The writer wants to convey three things at once:

  • The sea seems to act on purpose. Hide-and-seek needs a player. By giving the sea a game to play, the writer personifies it — the water is not merely moving, it is teasing.
  • The disappearing is regular and repeated. A game has rules and turns. The sea hides and then seeks you out again — “This unusual natural phenomenon keeps on happening daily.” It is playful, not alarming.
  • The visitor is part of it. ‘With its visitors' invites the reader in. You do not watch this wonder from a distance; you walk out over the exposed seabed and come back before the tide does.
Name the device and show how it works: this is personification — a human activity given to a non-human thing — and the writer has chosen a game every reader played as a child. That is why one short phrase does more than a paragraph of tidal science: it makes an unfamiliar phenomenon feel familiar and friendly in six words.
Q9.
Answer the following questions. 1. How are the living root bridges a boon for the local people of Meghalaya?
Answer

They solve a problem that nothing else could solve, and they go on solving it for centuries.

  1. They answer an age-old problem. “Crossing the many waterways without bridges was difficult for people in the past, during monsoons.” In a state of very heavy rain, the waterways were the barrier.
  2. They succeed where built bridges failed. “Attempts to use bamboo or wooden bridges across these waterways proved futile as these bridges could not last long in the heavy rains and strong waters.” Wood rots; roots do not.
  3. They grow stronger and last for ages. “Under ideal conditions, a root bridge is thought to be able to persist for hundreds of years.” They frequently rise 50 to 100 feet in the air, and the state's longest is a whopping 175 feet.
  4. They cost nothing but knowledge and patience. No cement, no stone, no concrete, no money — only the skill of guiding roots, passed down the generations.
  5. They are alive, so they add to the forest instead of taking from it. The chapter calls a root bridge “a naturally built ecosystem of local flora”.
  6. They carry meaning and now bring recognition. They symbolise “the relationship and knowledge that the local people have over their region and the cultural significance that it holds for them”, and are among Meghalaya's UNESCO world heritage sites — which brings visitors and income.
The idea behind the boon: the people of Meghalaya did not fight the rain, and did not try to out-build it. They used the one material that grows in the rain — and turned the region's greatest difficulty into the reason its bridges last. That is what makes them, as the text says, an “innovative and indigenous solution”.
Q10.
2. Why is the Lonar Crater Lake considered a remarkable and rare site?
Answer

Because of an unusual combination of facts, not one alone.

What makes it rareThe chapter's words
How it was formedA “colossal meteorite, blazing at an extremely high speed, crashed into the Earth” thousands of years ago
The rock it was formed in“the only crater in India formed in basaltic rock by a meteorite impact” — this is what makes it scientifically important
Its size in world terms“ranks as the third largest in the world, placing it among the top five largest craters globally”
Its shape and its water“The crater's perfectly circular depression cradles a unique saline lake at its core”
The way it looks“a striking visual contrast against the surrounding rugged terrain” — “a rare and extraordinary blend of celestial impact and terrestrial beauty”
Why the basalt matters. Basalt is hard volcanic rock — the same kind that covers much of the Deccan and, as it happens, much of the surface of the Moon and Mars. A meteorite crater preserved in basalt therefore lets scientists study what such impacts do on other worlds, without leaving Earth. The phrase “celestial impact and terrestrial beauty” sums the site up: something from the sky, and something to stand and look at.
Q11.
3. What might be the writer’s purpose of highlighting the awe-inspiring natural wonders of India?
Answer

The closing paragraph states most of the purpose openly, and the rest can be inferred from the choices the writer makes.

  • To show the range of India's own land. Seven wonders spread from Ladakh to Kerala and from Meghalaya to Maharashtra — mountain, delta, coast, forest and high desert. The reader is meant to notice that all of this is one country.
  • To restore wonder to things that have explanations. The writer gives the science every time — micro-planktons, ebb tide, mineral layers, an optical illusion — and still insists the places “challenge our understanding of the natural world and captivate our senses”, “blending scientific intrigue with the magic of folklore”.
  • To create respect, and through it, care. They “serve as a reminder of the extraordinary forces that shape our environment”. A reader who is amazed by a mangrove forest is likelier to want it protected.
  • To encourage curiosity and travel. Several places are named with directions and distances — 30 km from Leh, 15 km from Kochi — as though the reader might go.
  • To take pride in indigenous knowledge. The root bridges are presented as an “innovative and indigenous solution”, not as a curiosity.
Look at the last sentence of the text: “blending scientific intrigue with the magic of folklore.” It answers the question the whole unit has been asking. Mystery and magic are not the opposite of knowing things; the writer's purpose is to show that you can explain a wonder completely and still be amazed by it.
Q12.
4. The writer uses descriptive language and introductory questions for some of the natural phenomena. What impact does it have on the readers?
Answer

Together they turn an information text into an experience. Each device does a different job.

DeviceExample from the textImpact on the reader
Introductory question“Imagine building a bridge without the use of cement, stones, concrete, etc. Is it possible?”Puts the reader inside the problem before the answer arrives — you try to solve it yourself
Introductory question“Can a forest exist in a coastal zone?”Creates a small doubt, which the next word (“Yes”) resolves — a miniature suspense
Question from experience“Have you seen things disappearing in front of your eyes?”Connects an extraordinary phenomenon to something ordinary the reader has done — mislaying a thing at home
Descriptive language“a colossal meteorite, blazing at an extremely high speed, crashed into the Earth”Makes a distant, ancient event vivid and violent — you see and hear it
Descriptive language“this area turns into a botanical wonderland!”Gives the Valley of Flowers a mood, not just a species count
Figurative language“playing hide-and-seek with its visitors”; “where gravity takes a backseat”Makes the phenomena playful and memorable; a reader remembers a picture longer than a fact
Why the combination works. A question makes the reader active — you cannot read “Is it possible?” without answering it in your head. Description then makes the reader present — you are given something to see, hear or feel. Facts alone would inform you; these two devices make you want the facts. Notice that the writer never uses a question where the answer is obvious, and never describes at length where a number will do better (“1,400 kms”, “175 feet”, “600 species”). The balance is deliberate.
Q13.
5. Which of these unusual phenomena did you find the most interesting and why?
Answer

Choose one, say what it is in a sentence, and then give a reason that is about the phenomenon rather than about yourself. “Because it is beautiful” is not a reason; “because a bridge that repairs itself solves a problem cement cannot” is.

If you choose…A reason worth giving
The living root bridgesThey are the only structure in the chapter that gets stronger with age instead of decaying — and they were invented without any modern engineering
The Lonar Crater LakeYou can stand on the rim of a mark left by an object from space, in ordinary Maharashtra basalt
The Magnetic HillIt proves your own eyes can be wrong about something as basic as which way is downhill
The glowing waters of KumbalangiLight made by living creatures, without heat or electricity
Chandipur BeachA landscape that changes twice a day, so no two visits are the same
Sample answer: I found the living root bridges of Meghalaya the most interesting. Every other wonder in the chapter is something to look at; this one is something people use. What impressed me is that the villagers did not try to defeat the rain — bamboo and wooden bridges “proved futile” against it — but used a tree, which needs the rain to grow. A bridge that becomes stronger every year for a hundred years, and costs nothing but patience, seems to me a better idea than most modern ones. It also belongs to the people who made it, which is why it carries “cultural significance” for them and not only for tourists.
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