Seeing Without Seeing: NCERT Class 2 English Story (Mridang Unit 2)

etmantra3 Nov 20264 min read

A gentle story about kindness and our senses. Children play a guessing game with their eyes closed and learn to understand a classmate who cannot see.

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From NCERT’s new English book Mridang for Class 2, unit “Welcome to My World”. Unit 2.

What your child learns

Our five senses: touch, smell, hear, taste, see
Kindness towards children who are different
Taking care of our eyes
The short 'o' sound and using 'an' before 'o'

What the story is about

Onshangla comes home from school very quiet. She tells her mother, whom she calls Ava, that a new boy has joined her class. He wears dark glasses and cannot see, and she wonders how he will manage. Ava says they will play a new game.

Ava ties a scarf over Onshangla's eyes. Onshangla touches and smells a rose, hears a small bell, and tastes a drink to find it is orange juice, not water. When the scarf comes off, she sees Ava and is delighted. Ava explains that a child who cannot see can find things out in other ways, though it may be hard at times, and hopes everyone will be friends with the new boy.

New words, with Hindi meanings

quiet: making very little sound (हिंदी: चुप)
scarf: a piece of cloth worn on the neck or head (हिंदी: दुपट्टा)
soft: gentle to touch, not hard (हिंदी: मुलायम)
sniff: to smell something by breathing in (हिंदी: सूंघना)
joy: great happiness (हिंदी: ख़ुशी)
remove: to take off (हिंदी: हटाना)
blink: to shut and open the eyes quickly (हिंदी: पलक झपकाना)
difficulties: things that are hard to do (हिंदी: मुश्किलें)

Talk about it

Ask these aloud after reading or watching. Let your child answer in English if they can, or mix in their home language. Both help.

Why was Onshangla quiet when she came home?
How did Onshangla know the flower was a rose?
What was in the glass?
How would you help a friend who cannot see?

Answers for parents

A new boy who cannot see had joined her class, and she was thinking about him.
She touched it and then smelled it.
It was orange juice.
For example: I would hold his hand, walk with him and tell him what is around us.

Grammar corner: Sense words: touch, smell, hear, taste, see

We find out about the world with our senses. Each sense has its own action word. We touch with our hands, smell with our nose, hear with our ears, taste with our tongue and see with our eyes.

I can smell the rose with my nose.
I can hear the bell with my ears.
I can taste the juice with my tongue.

Practice at home

Fill in the blank: Onshangla ___ the bell with her ears.
Match: rose, bell, juice — taste, smell, hear.
Choose the good habit for eyes: (a) reading in good light (b) sitting very close to the TV

Answers: 1. heard · 2. rose - smell, bell - hear, juice - taste · 3. (a) reading in good light

Try this

Play Ava's game at home. Gently cover your child's eyes with a soft cloth and hand over safe things like a spoon, a flower, a lemon or a small bell. Your child guesses by touching, smelling, hearing or tasting, and says which sense helped, in English or Hindi.

Tip for parents

Ask your child in Hindi what 'Ava' means, and tell them what you call your own mother. Then while playing the game, say the sense word in Hindi first, like 'सूंघो', and then 'smell'. It is fine if your child answers in both languages.

Questions parents ask

Who are the characters in Seeing Without Seeing?

Onshangla, a little girl, and her mother, whom she calls Ava. A new boy in her class who cannot see is also talked about.

What is the moral of Seeing Without Seeing?

A child who cannot see can find out things in other ways, by touch, smell, sound and taste. We should be kind and make friends with such children.

What does Ava mean in Seeing Without Seeing?

Ava is the word Onshangla uses for her mother.

Learn every Class 2 lesson with CALP

Every lesson of Mridang, NCERT’s new book, with read-along videos, new words with Hindi meanings, and listen-and-say practice with a score, made for young children with a parent nearby. ₹999 for the whole year.

See the free lessons and enrol →