C7

Chapter 7: How to speak Australian

1. Who do you think phoned the inspector about Colonel Taylor and Jeevan Kumar?

It was probably Ram, because he knew all about what Coloney Taylor was doing

2. Why was Thomas different from the other sevants that Colonel Taylor had had?

Because he was younger, he was loyal and honest.

3. Now thomas has 52,000 rupees. What will he do? How will he spend them?

He'll obviously buy food and some clothes. Maybe he'll buy a ticket to go to find his brother and his old friend. And he will probably give some of his money to the beggars.

4. Where did he get all this money from?

Ram had already saved 43,500 rupees of his salary, and he got the rest by selling magazines.

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Chapter 6: A brother's promise

1. Do you think Ram should have helped Gudiya?

No, he shouldn't have helped her, because it was not his destiny, and destiny played a great role in his life.

2. Will the police find him and arrest him for the murder?

No they won't, because there would be no story if that happened. Ram deserves to save his life and run away.

3. Will Ram ever see his brother and Gudiya again?

He'll probably see them again, because he didn't kill the man because he wanted to, he did it in order to help his friend, so I hope there will be a reencounter.

4. Would you interfere if you knew your neighbour is beating his wife and daughter?

I would tell my parents about the situation, and I'm sure that they'd do the right thing, which is to call the police. What I would never do is to knock at my neighbour's door and say something like: "Hey, I think you are beating your daughter and your wife. Could you please stop doing that?". He would kill me immediately. 

C5

Chapter 5: A soldier's story

1. He talks about a war. When was it and which countries were fighting each other? Why?

The Indo-Pakistani War took place the 3rd of December of 1971. It was a conflict between India and Pakistan. It only lasted 13 days, so it's one of the shortest wars of the history. The war killed 3,ooo,ooo civilians in Bangladesh, and up to 400 women were raped by the Pakistani armed forces. Due to the war, 10 million people left the country and went to India.

2. How did the old soldier's stories help Ram with the answer to the next quiz question?

During his story, the soldier told Ram that the highest award for soldiers was the PVC (aka Param Vir Chakra), but he admitted that he had won none of the awards.

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Chapter 4: Tragedy Queen

1. 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?

The man probably was another famous actor, and Ram might have seen him before on TV.

2. Neelima says about her lover: "Sometimes I think that he loves me. Sometimes I think that he hates me". Why does she say this?

She may say this because sometimes the man acts as if he loved her, but other days he beats and hurts her, and that makes her think that he hates her.

3. In your opinion, why men mistreat women? Why is Neelima mistreated?

Men don't mistreat women because they are better, it's because they think they are better, and I believe that it's a problem of the past, because in other times it was thought that women were and deserved nothing because they didn't work, because they were less strong than men and because their only mission in life was to gave birth and take care of the children, the house and their husband. Luckily, nowadays the number of mistreated women is lower, but it is still high. Hopefully, this situation will change in a near future. And about Neelima, she is probably mistreated because of the mentality of those cultures in which women are seen like an object, and the first sign of it are their clothes. The fact that they must hide their faces is one of the signs of this foolish society.

4. What happened to Neelima in the end? Name three true celebrities who died the same way.

Neelima killed herself, like Vincent Van Gogh, Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway did.

• Vincent Van Gogh: he killed himself the 27th of July of 1890, when he was only 37. He shot his chest with a revolver. A note found in his pocket said: "I risked my life for my job, and my reason always was diminished"

• Virginia Woolf: this writer suffered from bipolar disease, which made her kill herself on March the 28th, 1941. She threw herself into the Ouse river. She had stones on her pocket.

• Ernest Hemingway: this worldwide known writer (one of the most important writers of the history) died the 2nd of July, 1961 because of a shot. It's unknown why he killed himself, but it is said that he made that decision because he had a depressive personality and because doctors detected that he suffered from Alzheimer. 

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Chapter 3: A home for the disabled

1. How did Ram and Salim meet?

Ram was sick and he was taken to another room where the doctor saw the patients. Two weeks later, another boy came to the room and they quickly became friends. Ram says about Salim that he had a clever mind and he asked lots of intelligent questions.

2. Why did they like each other?

They liked each other because they had lots of things in common: they were both orphans and they had no hope of finding a family. They loved watching films and their favourite actor was the same: Armaan Ali.

3. What was the Delhi's Children home like?

It was not as big as Ram and Salim had expected. It was a large old building with a small garden and a wall around it. Ram and Salim's room was small, it had two beds and a mirror in a wall.

4. Why and how did they escape?

They escaped because heard a conversation between Maman and Punnoose, who were talking about Ram and Salim's ability for singing. Ram then realized that they were not in a school and he became afraid because he had discovered the Maman and the others were going to make them blind.

5. Where are they planning to go?

They are planning to viscid Neelima Kumari, an actress and they were told that would help them. The only thing in which they agreed was not going to the police; Ram said: "Whatever you do and wherever you go, never go to the police". They took the train to Juhu.

6. How are they going to survive there?

As I said before, they are going to visit the actress Neelima Kumari, who will probably help them by offering a room, food and money.

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Chapter 2: Father Timothy

1. Father Timothy gave the orphan three names. How would these names help the boy?

Ram's names helped him during all he is surrounded by people during his entire life, and these people call him on the way they like, according to their religion. A clear example is Colonel Taylor, one of the few characters that speak english, who calls him Thomas (his christian name). 

2. Find out about the wars between India and Pakistan and answer: In your opinion, why did Father Timoty give him these three names?

Father Timothy probably gave him these three names to avoid racism and to give him more opportunities to get jobs or meet people.

3. How did Ram spend his childhood?

Ram spend his childhood in the church, living with Father Timothy. He says that lots of boys from the street went to the church gardens to play cricket and football. He was taught to speak english by Father Timothy and he learnt about Jesus's life. All of that changed when Father Timothy died and he was left with nothing.

4. How different was Ram Mohhamad Thomas's childhood from yours?

First of all, I did not live in a church. I have real parents, a real house and I was not poor. I played with dolls, I didn't play football in the street (in fact, nowadays nobody can play in the street). Like Ram, I had someone who taught me to speak english and told me everything about religion, but only one, not three!  

5. In your opinion, what is going to happen to Ram after Father Timothy's death?

He will probably be left in the street with nothing (maybe with very little money) and nobody will take care of him, so he will have to make his own life and take care of himself. He will be alone.

C1

Chapter 1: Cheat!

1. Why was Ram surprised to see Smita?

Ram is so surprised when he sees Smita for the first time because he was being tortured and he hadn't asked for lawyer because he couldn't afford it.

2. In your opinion, who sent Smita? How did she know about his arrest?

I believe that nobody sent Smita there, but she went there on her own because she wanted to help her old friend. She probably heard about the TV show and when she saw that Ram was the contestant, she was smart enough to think that nobody will believe that he knew all the answers without cheating. She already knew a little bit of Ram's difficult life, so she trusted him and went to the place where he was arrested to help him.

Learning Indian

Indian words in the book

Rupee

It's the indian unit of money. In the story it first appears when the main character wins the TV show and he has to be paid a billion rupees. 

Chapatti

It's a type of indian bread. That's the only piece of food that the character eats most of the days.

Sari

It's a piece of cloth that wear indian women, particularly those from Mumbai. The character sees women of all ages wearing this kind of dress.

Chawl

It's a large building with small rooms for people to rent in India, particularly in Mumbai. It normally has between four and five floors and a shared bathroom on each floor.

Tiffin

It's a small meal that you eat in the middle of the day or a small snack. It was offered to the main character when he was in the "school" for the disabled. 

Oscars

The cast of Slumdog Millionaire receiving the award for Best Picture

The Story

Original idea: Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?

The autor, Vikas Swarup, got the idea of writing Slumdog Millionaire from the TV show called Who wants to be a millionaire?. This TV show was first shown on ITV1 in the UK in 1998, and it has been seen in hundreds of countries around the world. The indian version started in 2000, and it was hosted by two Bollywood actors: Amitabh and Shahrukh Khan. In Spain, the TV show started in 1999 and it was presented by Carlos Sobera.

About the plot

Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of Ram Mohammad Thomas, a boy that was born in India. Father Timothy (a Catholic priest) took care of him. His name refers to the three religions: Ram from the Hindu religion, Mohammad from the Muslim, and Thomas from Christianity. Ram was a young boy who was born in Delhi (India) and grows up in the slums of Mumbai (one of the biggest cities in the world). It is a very poor city, and 60% of its 13 million people live in slum buildings. The biggest problem of the city is the water supply. Ram decided to take part in the TV show Who Will Win a Billion? because of several reasons. He wins the prize, so the organizers of the show thought that a boy that has lived all his live in the slums couldn't win the TV show, so they accused him of cheating. They punish him, but when Ram's lawyer arrives and asks him why did he know all the answers, he tells the story of his life.

The film

The film based on the book was also called Slumdog Millionaire. It was filmed in India in 2008, and the main actors were Dev Patel and Freida Pinto, who have been in a romantic relationship since then. The film was nominated to 12 Oscars in 2009 and won 8 (including best director and best movie)

People, Places and Events

Surdas was a saint, poet and musician who lived in the 15th century and was born in India. He was blind. It is said that he left his family when he was 6 years old because he followed a group of singers who in that moment were in the village. Surdas wrote over a hundred thousand poems, however, only eight thousand are still known nowadays. Like Surdas, Ram Mohammad left home when he was very little, and although he wasn't blind, he met people who were. 

The story takes place in Delhi (India), and it shows different sides of the city. On one hand, it shows the suburbs, where poor people live in very difficult conditions. On the other hand, it also shows the richest part of the city (music stars, corrupts, worldwide known TV programmes...). An indian war is explained in chapter 5 of the story.

About the Taj Mahal, it is the most important building in India. It was build by Emperor Shahjahan in 1631, and it took 22 years to be built. The Emperor had fallen in love with a beautiful woman who he called Mumtaz Mahal, which means "the chosen one". They got married and they had 14 children, but she died while she was giving birth to her last son, so her husband promised her to build the most beautiful building in her honor. Nowadays, the palace receives 4 million visitors each year.

Author

The Author: Vikas Swarup

The writer of this book, entitled Slumdog Millionaire, is Vikas Swarup, who was born in Allahabad, in India. He studied psychology, history and philosophy at college, and in 1986 he joined the Indian Foreign Service. Due to that, he worked in Turkey, USA, Ethiopia, Great Britain and South Africa. He is married to a woman called Aparna and he has two sons: Aditya and Varun.

The original title of Slumdog Millionaire was Q and A, but the film based on it changed the name. This book is the first one of Vikas Swarup, and it only took him to write two months. It has had an enormous success, and it has been translated to forty-two languages, including spanish and catalan. The book's popularity increased when a film about it was made (starring Dev Patel and Freida Pinto). After Slumdog Millionaire, Vikas Swarup wrote another novel: Six Suspects, published in 2008.

The film won 8 Oscars including best movie and best director.