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Chapter 8: Murder on a train

1. "Fifty thousand dreams had suddenly been taken from me". What did Ram mean?

He had 50,000 rupees in his pocket which could help him to reach his dreams: visit his brother, see Gudiya, eat good food, buy some clothes, including shoes... After the robbery he was left with nothing, so his dreams disappeared. 

2. 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?

Because the Police is not reliable enough in that country, so a poor little boy would just be the center of laughs. In fact, in another chapter Ram said to his friend: "Whatever you do, wherever you go, never go to the Police". The Police would probably have done that, and maybe they had beat him to "teach" him what he should not do.

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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. 

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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.