Q&A Slumdog millionaire blog #5 A Thought For The Crippled

     In this chapter A Thought For The Crippled, Ram talks about his story when he was taken to the Delhi Juvenile Home for Boys, in Turkman gate after being picked from the church after Father Timothy's death. In the Delhi Juvenile Home, he also meets up with a boy named Salim who becomes his best friend after being told about his past which was his family being burnt to death by Hindus because they thought that a Muslim family desecrated the idol of the monkey God. They also became best friends because when a character named Mr Gupta, who is the Terror of Turkman Gate who is short, hairy man who chews paan all day and wears two thick gold chains around his neck. One night Mr Gupta called Salim over and tried to sexual harass him, but Ram had a flashback and screamed, waking up everyone in the Juvenile and saving Salim. Then Ram and Salim were taken to a Carnival and were given ten rupees each. At the Carnival they met up with a palmist but had to spend all their rupees to know about their future. The palmist named Panditji predicted that Salim will become a great famous actor but Ram will have a bad future. So Ram took Salim and told Panditji that what he was doing was a waste of time. Although Panditji gave Ram a lucky coin in which many miracles happened afterwards. They were taken to Mumbai by a famous director of Bollywood, Sethji off Gupta for a few rupees. In Mumbai they made a few friends, although most of the kids there were punished because they weren't able to sing and were crippled. At the end of the story they manage to escape into a train away from Goregaon towards the centre of the vast metropolis. Smita turns on the TV and presses play and Prem Kumar (the host of the quiz show) asks Ram, Surdas, the blind poet, was a devotee of which God: a) Ram, b) Krishna, c) Shiva, or d) Brahma? Ram answers b) Krishna and wins ten thousand rupees.

Q&A Slumdog millionaire blog #4 A Brother's Promise

     In this Chapter A Brother's Promise, another sad story is being told by Ram which is relevant to life because what his friend experienced happens in people's daily lives. First, Ram talks about his daily horoscope that says "he should take a good look at all sides of an issue before making a decision". Which means that he should think before he acts which is a very good advice in my opinion because it'll help him live life easier. A new character named Mr Ramakrishna, the administrator of the chawl is introduced in this chapter. Salim and Ram are told that new tenants will be moving in the room next to theirs. Ram meets a girl named Gudiya who is older than him and lives with her father Mr Shantaram who is an astronomer science. But soon, Ram finds out that Mr Shantaram has an alchohol addiction which leads to abuse and molestation to his daughter Gudiya. Ram finds out by putting a steal cup against the wall to hear everything thats going on in the adjacent room which I find smart because I would be curious to know what my room mates are talking about too. At one point Gudiya gets her face burnt with a first degree burn and she is about to be molested by her father but Ram finds out there is a hole he can put his hand through, so he did and made a promise that he will protect her because she says he's like a brother she's never had before. Although, near the end of the chapter, Ram takes action and pushes Mr Shantaram down the stairs and runs away because he wanted to take action and keep his promise that he made to Gudiya. In the end of the chapter, Smita remains quiet for the whole time while Ram was telling the story and the third question for the show was "Which is the smallest planet in our solar system? Is it a) Pluto, b) Mars, c) Neptune or d) Mercury?" Ram answered with A) Pluto and got it correct and won five thousand rupees.

Q&A Slumdog millionaire blog #3 The Burden of a Priest

     In the third chapter The Burden of a Priest, Ram talks about his childhood and story of when he was a baby. I found his story really sad and depressing which was the reason why he ended up being a slumdog and an un-educated child. The story was about his memory of him being born in an J. J. Women's Hospital on the day of Christmas but was abandoned by his mother and had a visual of the scene when she ran out of the hospital during the night and wrapped Ram in a blanket to keep him comfortable when she placed him in a bin. I find that part really sad but he was found by the Sisters of St Mary who ran an orphanage, he was put up for adoption. Unfortunetly no one wanted to take him because of his looks and the way smiled, but Mr and Mrs Thomas decided that they did. Sadly, Mrs Thomas ditched Mr Thomas for someone else, so Mr Thomas decided to take the baby and give it to Father Timothy (Priest) because he thought it was bad luck. After that, Father Timothy took care of the baby until he turned older and Ram thought of Father Timothy as his actual loving father but eventually two other people came and told Father Timothy that the baby could have been Hindu or Muslim so they came up with the name Ram Mohammad Thomas. Eventually, Father Timothy was killed by the two people and Ram's memories of that will never fade away. Although that story related to the who wants to be a Billionaire question which was "What is the sequence of letters normally inscribed on a cross? Is it a) IRNI b) INRI, c) RINI or d) NIRI and he answered correctly with b) INRI because of the white cross he saw at church.

Q&A Slumdog millionaire blog #2

     In the first chapter of Slumdog millionaire called "The Death of a Hero" Ram Mohammad Thomas talks about  his story at the theatres with his friend named Salim. Salim is Ram's best friend who is crazy for Hindi films, but mostly ones that feature Armaan Ali who is an action hero of the film that they are watching. I find this chapter amusing because of how much Salim talks about Armaan Ali and it seems like he daydreams about him whenever he watches one of his films. Salim even compliments Armaan by telling Ram that Armaan is handsome and says that he would comfort Armaan in his arms when he thinks he has lost everything. But the weird part was when an old man with a beard decides to show up and sit right beside Salim and rubs his jeans sexually during some sad scenes of the film. I found that really awkward, especially for Salim because he didn't thought the old man was just suffering from tremors on his leg until he tried to sexually harass him. There were some harsh content in this chapter but I would probably do the same if I were in Salim's shoes. As Ram was telling the story about that day to Smita, it shows how he answered the first question correctly in the Who Will Be a Billionaire quiz. The first question of the quiz was "Can you name the blockbusting film in which Armaan Ali starred with Priya Kapoor for the very first time. Was it a) Fire, b) Hero, c) Hunger, or d) Betrayal?" Ram answered D. Betrayal and was correct, winning one thousand rupees so far.

Q&A Slumdog millionaire blog #1

In the prologue of "Q&A Slumdog millionaire" the author (Vikas Swarup) introduces the protagonist of the novel, Ram Mohammad Thomas. Ram is just an ordinary under-classed kid who works at a restaurant in Dharavi, but when he answered all twelve questions correctly on TV's Who Will Win a Billion? People such as the cops were suspicious about it, but mostly because he has never gone to school and has never read a newspaper. What happened during one night, was that cops broke into his door and arrested him for winning a quiz show and was taken away into a police station. Even though he was screaming and kicking for help, no one had helped him because they also thought he didn't deserve all the money from the quiz show. To be honest, they should have been more considerate and asked him questions without having to do it physically and assuming that he just cheated to win. Although Dharavi is a pretty strict country in my opinion just because someone won and their considered as under-classed, doesn't mean they cheated. I believe that Ram is just gifted and no luck or cheating was needed to win the quiz show. Also Johnson, one of the cops say that apparently the show is suppose to be scripted and they were expecting that no one would win W3B within eight months but suddenly Ram surprised them and won. So the show company's investments and ad revenues were corrupted because Ram ruined their plan. Also, I find it interesting that Ram does not say anything to protest his innocents, otherwise the cops might have been even more suspicious about it. Other characters that were in the prologue are: The Commissioner, Nanda, Johnson, Billy and Godbole. At first, the Commissioner had a doubt that Ram cheated to win, because he talked about Einstein coming from a poor background and being a high-school drop-out also. Then Nanda thought of an idea to prove that Ram is no Einstein by asking him to answer four more questions in another mini quiz. He answered all four wrong, but even when he did, they had no proof of evidence that he cheated. It really surprised me when Ram was saved by a lawyer named Smita Shah who after asks him about how he won, but tries to get answers without having to force him to speak up. Although, he flipped a coin and it landed on heads so he told her he won it by luck.