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Chapter Thirteen: A Sister´s Promise

-Ram said the luck came from inside the person. Explain what he meant.

I think that he meants that if you are a good person, and you do good things in order to help other people, the luck would came inside and outside to you.

 

-Does the story have a happy end? Explain your answer.

Yes. Finally, Ram achieve to won the TV show and the money. Then Smita proved that the company was wrong because they were trying to say that Ram was cheating. Then the TV programme got cancelled. And what´s more important, finally Ram and Nita were married and happily together in Mumbai.

 

Chapter Twelve: The Last Question

-In this chapter we learn the true reason why Ram Mohammed Thomas went to the show Who Will Win a Billion. What is it? He was only there to take revenge of Prem Kumar, the host. He was the man that had punished Neelima Kumari and the man who was engaged with Nita, his love.

-Why did Ram choose the answer A? Because his lucky coin told him to choose answer A. He wasn´t there for the money, but there was a lot of money in play.

-What was Smita’s secret? That she was Gudiya, his "sister". She told him that he didn´t killed her father but that he had never punished her before.

Chapter Eleven: Look after your Buttons

-Do you think Prakash Rao was right in giving his wife all what she wished? No because she was treating her husband like he was her servant. A relationship is not giving all to one person,it consists on giving eachother love.

 

-Is that a reason to steal and betray your own family? No,it isn´t. Sometimes people get mad about money, and they only see the advantatges of having huge amounts of money, but they don´t see that it can cause damadge to the people around them.

 

-What is voodoo and in which country do people usually practise it? Voodoo is a religious practise that people from Haiti, New Orleans and West Africa sometimes used.

 

-How did she make vodoo to Prakash Rao’s brother?Taking some of his hair and clothes he hadn't washed after using. Then she killed a chicken and spread the blood on the doll.

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In your opinion, who was more cruel to each other, Prakash or Arvind Rao? Why? Prakash, because he stole the money from his brother.

Chapter Ten: At Home with a Killer

-Explain how Salim became a junior actor.

 He went to Mukesh Rawal's office and asked him for a role in one of his films. He said that he was too young but Salim kept working to reach his goal. He took some pictures of himself with a camera that he bought and gave them to Pappu Master.

-Would you betray someone who has saved your life if you know he’s a criminal? If he is a crazy person that I know that is able to kill people yes, because it´s too dangerous and risky to have someone like that in the street. But if he is a criminal with other things, maybe I forgive him once, but not twice.

-Why do you think Thomas didn’t tell Salim about the quiz show? Maybe because he didn´t want to get Salim involve in the revange or to put him in trouble now that he hasd reache his dream.

Chapter Nine: A Love Story

-Ram and Nita fell in Love. But why could they not get married?

Because Nita was already engaged with another man, and she could not escape with Ram because her sister tried once with her partner and her father got very angry. And also because of the money, because Nita was engaged with a rich, famous man, and Ram had nothing but a few money left.

-Nita is engaged to a rich and successful man who will pay her family 40,000 rupees. Do you think arranged marriages are a good idea? Absolutely not. If you are not in love with the person that you want to spend the rest of your life, then you are not living a happy life because you are spending your time with someone that doesn´t love you and so you are.

-Why do you think Swapna Devi said this about his son: “perhaps death will be the best thing for him”
Because he has a disease, and she doesn´t want to take care of him, because in India and in a lot of countries, there are prejudices in this kind of topic. I can´t believe that a mother could even think of not loving her child because he has an illness.

-In this chapter we see Thomas is really generous. Why? Because he decided to gave all of his money to a strange person that was in the hospital because his son was very ill and he needed forty thousand rupees to save his life. At first Ram, said no because he needed the money to be with his love, Nita. But then he realised that the man with the child, deserved the money more than him.  

 

-Why is this chapter particularly important? Because then, when Ram was in the programme and he didn´t know the answer to the question asked, he decided to called to the English teacher that he gave the money in the hospital. Luckily, he answered the correct one and he passed to the next round of questions.

-How was the man of the hospital able to pay Thomas back? By answering the question  in order to get the final prize of one billion rupees, which is more than paying forty thousand rupees back.

Chapter Eight: Murder on a Train

-Fifty thousand dreams had suddenly been taken from me. “What did Ram mean?”
Because it was all the money that he had been earning while working with Colonel Taylor. But then a robber had stole it while he was in the train to Mumbai, so he had anything left. All the work and effort that he had been doing it for nothing. 

-Thomas is thinking about the Police and asks himself: “Would the Police tell me that I was a hero for killing a robber? Or would they call me a killer who had shot a man dead without even knowing his name?”. Why does he think this? What do you think the Police would tell him?

He was thinking that because he killed the robber that took all the money from him. He had a gun but Ram took it and shot him in the chest. He was scared, so he decided to run because he was not going to wait to find out what the police was going to do. He only cared about getting away.

I think the police would arrested him If they find out that Ram was the man who commited the crime.

 

 

Chapter Seven: How to speak Australian

-Who do you think phoned the inspector about Colonel Taylor and Jeevan Kumar? It might have been Ram. I think he did the right thing because Colonel Taylor was interfering in people´s lives and was spying everyone.

 

-Why was Thomas diferent from the other servents that Colonel Taylor had had? Because he had never robbed something from the house nor had intentions, unlike the other servants in the house that had stolen some possessions of the Taylor´s. But since Colonel Taylor is " The Man Who Knows", he had been sacking all the robbers.

-Now Thomas has 52,000 rupees. What will he do? How will he spend them?
He should save some money for future needs. Now that he has some money, he is going to spend it in necessary things, like clothes, food and one game for Salim. And what´s more important, a train ticket to get to Mumbai.

 

-Where did he get all this money from? Because Colonel Taylor had been paying him half of his salary, so then when he get sacked or he decided to go he would receive the money left. I think it is a smart thing to do.

 

 

Chapter six: A Brother´s Promise

-Do you think Ram should have helped Gudiya? Yes for sure. He acted in a very brave way although he was just a teenager. He demonstrated that there are good people in our world that help others for no reason, just because they think it is the correct thing to do.

-Will the police find him and arrest him for the murder? No, they won´t. Ram commited the supposed murder to help his "sister". He is a very lucky person and he is also a good hearted person, and good people don´t deserve bad things.

-Will see ever see his brother and Gudiya again? I hope so, because they haven´t had the chance to say goodbye to eachother.

-Would you interfere if you knew your neighbour is beating his wife and daughter? First of all, I would make sure that the statment is correct and that I am not wrong, because then I could find myself in trouble. But if I knew for sure that my neighbour is beating his wife, I would make sure to tell it to my parents and I think that we would call the police.

Chapter Five: A Soldier´s Story

-He talks about a war. When was it and which countries were fighting each other? Why? He talks about the war between India and Pakistan in 1971, "the last real war" the soldier called it. They fight because they wanted to make the other country part of its own, as in the past they had been together.

-How did the old soldier’s stories help Ram with the answer to the next quiz question? Because the soldier told that the highest award for the India armed forces was not given to him, although he deserve it. But then one commander told the truth about the soldier´s story, and it was all a lie. In the programme Prem Kumar asks Ram the question: "What is the highest award given to the Indian armed forces?" So he knows the answer is Param Vir Chakra.

Chapter Four: Tragedy Queen

-Ram knew Neelima’s lover face although he couldn’t remember exactly where from. Who do you think it was? Where might he have seen him before? I think maybe he was one of the men of Maman´s group who help Maman to make the kids blinded and with strange diseases.

-Neelima says about her lover: “sometimes I think that he loves me. Sometimes I think that he hates me”. Why does she say this? Because, when the man gets angry, he hits Neelima and when he is happy, he treats her well and he gives her all of his love.

-In your opinion, why men mistreat women? Why is Neelima mistreated? I think that men that mistreat women are people without feelings and they want to feel like they are more than everybody. There is not an exact reason that explains that , but the truth is that they often feel insecure about themselves so they hit their couple in order to feel "worth it".

I think Neelima is mistreated because she is with a man that she doesn´t know very much about him. She might feel alone and scared, so she prefers to be with him rather than to call somebody in order to help her.

 

-What happened to Neelima in the end? Name three true celebrities who died the same way.
She kill herself because she can´t stand anymore the situation. She dressed up, took all of her awards and locked herself in the bathroom. Then Ram find her body dead.
 
           KURT COBAIN                                                                MARYLIN MONROE

 

 

JIMI HENDRIX

             

Chapter Three: A home for the disabled

-How did Ram and Salim meet? Ram was sent to the Delhi Children´s Home for Boys, in Turkman Gate after Father Timothy died. He became the leader of the group of boys because he could speak English. One day that Ram was ill in a private room, another bed was brought in. A new boy had arrived, and it was Salim.

 

-Why did they like each other? Because they had a lot in common. They were orphans, with no hope of finding a family and they both loved watching films.

-What was the Delhi’s Children home like? It was crowded, noisy and dirty. The clasrooms had broken desks and the teachers had not taught for years. They would eat in a room with long wooden tables.

 

-Why and how did they escape? A man called Maman came to the house from time to time in order to pick up some good boys to his school. Then he would teach them how to sing Surda´s song. But Ram and Salim discovered that he made the boys blinded, so it was easy to ask for money in the train. They decided to escape before Maman and the others caught them.

-Where are they planning to go?  To Neelima Kumari´s house, because a boy of Maman´s house told them that she was a very good women who often gave him money in order to satisfy Maman requirements.

-How are they going to survive there? Ram offered Nelima to be one of her servants. She accepted and she was considered enough to pay for Salim´s living.

Chapter Two: Father Timothy

-Father Timothy gave the orphan three names. How would these names help the boy? Because the name of the orphan is Ram Mohamed Thomas, which connects the three most important religions in the world. Ram for Hindu, Mohamed for Muslim and Thomas for Christianity.

 

-Find out about the wars between India and Pakistan and answer: In your opinion, why did Father Timothy give him these three names? Because in India, they kill other people if they find out that a person has a Pakistany name. So they can kill you for not being part of their religion. I think Father Timothy was very clever for gaving to the orphan that kind of name.

-How did Ram spend his childhood? He would play with other kids of the orphanage, and the ones that came to the church every Sunday. He became a very intelligent boy thanks to Father Timothy, who taught him how to speak English and to learnt about other religions and cultures.

-How diferent was Ram Mohamed Thomas’ childhood from yours?
First of all, I grew up with my parents and my brohter but Ram was an orphan. I had a very happy childhood, and I think Ram was also very happy with his lifestyle. While he would play in the street with other kids, I would go to the school with my friends to learnt as many things as I could.
But not many kids are as lucky as I am. In India many children die for terrible diseases, and they often have to work instead of going to school.

-In your opinion, what is going to happen to Ram after Father Timothy’s death? I think that Ram is going to go away because Father Timothy was the one that protected him the most, and the one that gave him food and a bed to sleep.

Chapter One: Cheat!

1. Why was Ram surprised to see Smita? Because he can´t afford to pay for a lawyer and because he has never seen this women before (or he thinks so). The inspector Godbole is also very surprised to see that he has a lawyer.

2. In your opinion, who sent Smita? How did she know about his arrest? I think that Smita had met Ram before, and she wants to help him in order to give him back a favour. Or maybe, she was watching the show and she was interested how a poor boy like Ram, could answer all the questions, so she decided to investigate and she found that he was going to get arrested unfairly.

 

 

Background information

  The TV show

-What’ s the name of the TV show in which the story is based on? Who Wants To Be A Millionaire

-What do you know about it? It is one of the most popular TV shows on air. It has been seen in more than 100 countries. The first programme was in the United Kingdom in 1998 In March 1999, a record 19.2 million people watched the programme. There have been special editions of this show where famous singers, actors and actrees had participated in order to won money for charity.

-Post a short video of one of the programmes.

The main character

-His name combines the names of three religions. Which are they? The name of Ram Mohammad Thomas brings together three important religions: Ram is from the Hindu religion, Mohammad from the Muslim religion and Thomas from Christianity.

-Where does he grow up? Include pictures. Ram is a young, poor boy who was born in Delhi, the capital of India. He grows up in the slums of Mumbai, one of the biggest cities in the world.

                                                                        Mumbai

People, places and events in the story   

-Who was Surdas? He was a saint, poet and musician who lived in the fifteenth century. He was born in India and he couldn´t see. He was very religious and he left his family when he was six with a music group. He wrote over one hundred thousand poems.

  

-What is the connection between Surdas and the main character? Surda´s songs are singed by the deseabled kids who work for Maman. When Ram Mohammad Thomas and Salim go with Maman´s group, a teacher shows the kids how to sing the Surda´s song.

-What is the historical background? What war appears in the story? The historical background is between the war of India and Pakistan, which in the past, they had been together.The war that appears in the story is the last, in the year 1971.

-What is the story behind Taj Mahal? Include pictures. It was built by Emperor Shahjahan, who was in love with Mumtaz Mahal. They got married and had fourteen childrenm, but the woman died while she was having a baby. Before she died, her husband promised to build the most beautiful palace in the world for her. What a lovely story...

-Include a picture of the Indian words and say in what context do they appear in the story.

A rupee. It appears along the book. When Prem Kumar told Ram how much money is he winning for answering the questions.

 Chapatti, a type of bread. Ram saw this food in Agra.

 A sari, a very long wide piece of cloth that women in India wrap around their bodies. When Ram has a dream of his mother.

 Chawl. A large building with small rooms,where a lot of people live together.Ram and Salim stay in a chawl when they escape.

 Tiffin. A small meal that you eat in the middle of the day. When Ram is in Taj Mahal working, he earns enough money to buy a tiffin.

The author: Vikas Swarup

The author of the book Slumdog Millionaire is Vikas Swarup, a writer born in Allahabad, India. He had studied psychology, history and philosophy at the University. He had worked and travelled all around the world. In August 2009 he became Consul General of India in Osaka, Japan.

 

His first book was Q and A (the title of the book which was used in the film Slumdog Millionaire). He finished the book very soon, and since that moment this book has became a huge success. It has been published in forty-two different languages.

 

He is happily married with his wife, and they have two sons.

 

New book: Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is going to be our next book for our English class. I had seen the movie before but I think this book is quite different from the film. I hope I enjoy the book while reading it :)