NCERT Solutions for Class 9th English Chapter 3 Winds of Change
Updated on 2026-09-19
About this chapter
Winds of Change (prose, pages 69–85): the word pankha comes from pankh , ‘feather of a bird’; pankhi was the small plumed fan of ancient India, seen in the Buddhist wall paintings at Ajanta that “date back to the 2nd century CE”. Pankhas fanned deities in temples and kings in royal courts, and ranged “from a tiny two inch one to large ones requiring a person’s full arm strength”. The chapter’s method is a survey by region, and its argument is that material equals identity: “The structure of each fan reflects the cultural core of the region that crafts it.” Rajasthan gives appliqué, zardozi, engraved brass temple fans and painted cardboard fans; Gujarat gives mirror-work cotton, bead fans with silver handles and Kutch’s hand-stitched leather; Bengal gives sola and Tal Patar Pankha ; Uttar P
- Winds of Change (prose)
- Canvas of Soil (poem)
Quick revision
| Word or term | What it means | Where it appears in the chapter | Used in a fresh sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| pankha / pankhi | pankha = any fan; pankhi = a small plumed fan of ancient India | “The word punkha or pankha originates from the word ‘pankh’, which means feather of a bird” (page 70) | A painted pankha hangs above the door of our village temple. |
| indigenous | local — from where it originated | “The adjoining state of Gujarat has its own indigenous take on pankhas” (page 71); vocabulary item III, page 69 | Every district here has an indigenous style of embroidery. |
| innovative | new and original in approach | “the advent of technology and innovative creations” (page 72) | Her innovative use of waste cloth won the craft prize. |
| industrious | hardworking | “Gujarat’s industrious home-based women workers have worked tirelessly” (page 71) | The industrious weavers of the village work from dawn to dusk. |
| intricate | elaborate / detailed | “a variety of intricate designs, that set them apart from one another” (page 70) | The intricate carving on the brass fan took him three weeks. |
| invoked | brought out | “the culture, stories, and artistry that this handicraft invokes” (page 73) | The old song invoked memories of her grandmother’s courtyard. |
| initiatives | actions to improve a situation | “Initiatives such as pankha-making workshops” (page 73) | Government initiatives have brought buyers straight to the artisans. |
| encrusted | covered or decorated | “glittering ornate and encrusted gold threadwork” (glossed on page 71) | The handle was encrusted with tiny mirrors. |
| sola | a type of water grass | “the beautiful milky-white spongy centre of the sola” (glossed on page 72) | Idols of sola pith are made in Bengal for the puja. |
| perpetually | constantly | “are perpetually kept as an article of possession in Bengali households” (glossed on page 72) | The lamp in the shrine burns perpetually. |
| antiquity | the distant past | “recognised across India due to their antiquity and rarity” (glossed on page 72) | The antiquity of the craft is proved by the Ajanta paintings. |
| advent | arrival | “With time and the advent of technology” (glossed on page 72) | The advent of the electric fan changed village evenings. |
| appliqué | cloth pieces of different shapes cut and sewn on to another cloth | “an antique pankha made of pieces of fabric… sewn onto another cloth” (page 71) | Her appliqué quilt carried birds cut from old saris. |
| zardozi | ornate gold threadwork embroidery | “the zardozi hand fan of Rajasthan… glittering ornate and encrusted gold threadwork” (page 71) | The zardozi border on the sherwani caught the light. |
| palette | a board on which a painter holds and mixes colours | “Palette of earth, rich and deep” (poem, page 87); defined on page 87 | He squeezed three blues on to his palette. |
| hue | shade of a colour | “Awaiting spring’s vibrant hue” (poem, page 87); defined on page 87 | The evening sky took on a rusty hue. |
| canvas | (here) painting; the surface a painter works on | “Each plot, a canvas wide” (poem, page 87); defined on page 87 | She stretched a fresh canvas over the wooden frame. |
| coincide | happen together; occupy the same place | “Where art and life coincide” (poem, page 87) | Our holidays coincide with the harvest festival. |
| allegory | a story or poem whose surface meaning carries a larger, unstated meaning | “The poem may be interpreted as an allegory… operates on two levels” (page 89) | The film works as an allegory of a divided city. |
| collocation | words that conventionally go together | “Such combinations are called collocations” (page 78) | ‘Heavy rain’ is a collocation; ‘strong rain’ is not. |
Exercises
- Winds of Change (prose) — Reflect and Respond Page 69–70
- Winds of Change (prose) — Check Your Understanding Page 73–74
- Winds of Change (prose) — Critical Reflection Page 74–76
- Winds of Change (prose) — Vocabulary and Structures in Context Page 76–79
- Winds of Change (prose) — Listen and Respond Page 79
- Winds of Change (prose) — Speaking Activity Page 80
- Winds of Change (prose) — Writing Task Page 80
- Winds of Change (prose) — Learning Beyond the Text Page 80–85
- Canvas of Soil (poem) — Reflect and Respond Page 86–87
- Canvas of Soil (poem) — Check Your Understanding Page 87–89
- Canvas of Soil (poem) — Critical Reflection Page 89–91
- Canvas of Soil (poem) — Vocabulary in Context Page 92
- Canvas of Soil (poem) — Listen and Respond Page 93–94
- Canvas of Soil (poem) — Speaking Activity Page 94
- Canvas of Soil (poem) — Writing Task Page 94
- Canvas of Soil (poem) — Learning Beyond the Text Page 95–96