Wherever you live, you probably have complaints about the place. No place is perfect! There are many ways in which you can air your complaints. Here is a video showing one clever way of doing it.
I stumbled upon this lovely video several years ago and found it very interesting. And, of course, my immediate thought was, “What a great geography education tool!”
This video can help you engage with several geography concepts. Here is a partial list:
- Site — the content of a place. There two types of content you can make out:
- Natural site features — the natural content of a place, and
- Cultural site features — the human-created content of a place.
- Cultural — anything that humans have created. These may be:
- Physical — objects of any kind.
- Non-physical — behaviors, languages, art, etc.
- Taken together, the evidence of the human culture of a place is the cultural landscape of that place.
- Place types — ranging from a rural village to a metropolis (“A metropolis is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.” And, “The 74th Amendment to the Indian Constitution defines a metropolitan area as an area having a population of 10 Lakh or 1 Million or more, comprised in one or more districts and consisting of two or more Municipalities or Panchayats or other contiguous areas, specified by the Governor by public notification to be a Metropolitan area. The important metropolises in India are Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore, Bhopal, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Madurai, Mumbai,Pune, Patna, Ranchi, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram and Visakhapatnam.” Source: Wikipedia; Accessed on 24 February 2022)
- Place characteristics — From your NCERT textbooks, you might be able to identify a “hierarchy” of places from hamlet all the way up to a metoropolis. Each type of place has its own typical characteristics.
Explore !
Watch this video carefully, several times if you have to.
Figure out the answers to the questions below and post your answers (with question numbers) in the comments box below.
- For every complaint mentioned in the video, argue whether they are also found in rural villages.
- There are several complaints aired here. Do these complaints arise from a love of the place (topophilia) or hatred for the place (topophobia)?
- Which of the issues raised here are natural and which ones are cultural?
- What particular art forms are used in this part to convey the observations on the issues raised?
- Identify the dance form that occurs in the background. How is that name connected to Geography? (this will require some online research)
- Identify the musical instruments used in the video. Classify them as strings, percussion, etc.
- Identify as many landmarks in the video as you can.
- Identify the place where you live. Which of the issues raised in this video do you find in the place where you live? Be specific.
- Select any one issue that you feel strongly about that occurs in the video AND in the place where you live.
- What are your suggestions to solve the issues?
- Why do you advocated those solutions?
Explore further !
This exercise builds on the one above (under Explore !). This is the part you do not get to do in your regular geography study!
Ask geography questions ! The questions above are only a few simple ones. You may be able to ask other geography questions! If you are able to frame good geography questions, it is an indication of how good you are in geography. Your marks in any exam or score in any competition does not say anything about your understanding of geography. However, the kind of questions you can ask certainly indicate that. Read this essay on asking geography questions.
Post your answers to the above questions + your own geography questions. You could answer your questions yourself or let others answer them.
Please remember to tell us your first name only, standard you are in, the name of your school, and the city you live in.
Finally, share this essay with others — your friends, parents, teachers, etc.
We look forward to your thoughts on this essay.
Here is a Google Map link to Hyderabad for you to explore!
Featured image: Google Earth image of Hyderabad and surrounding areas.
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