A home for the disabled

-How did Ram and Salim meet?

Salim arrived at Delhi Children's Home for Boys where Ram was after Father Timothy died. Salim was his roommate's and they become very good friends

-Why did they like each other?

Because both were orphans and they loved watch films. This is why they become very good friends.

-What was the Delhi's Children home like?

Ram said: It was crowned, noisy and dirty. The classrooms had broken desks and the teachers had not taught for years. Ram doesn't like too much Delhi's Childrem home.

-Why and how did they escape?

Salim listened a conversation between Sethji and Poonose saying that they are going to blind Ram. So Salim, hurry up to told him and the decided to escape in a train.

-Where are they planning to go?

They want to take the train to Juhul. There, Kumari try to get a job in her house like a servants and then protect them.

-How are they going to survive there?

Ram became Neelima Kumari's servand and she pay him. Then she give a apartment where Salim and Ram can live.

Father Timothy

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

He give three names to help the boy to have a good relationship with the three religions: Muslin, Hindu and Christianity.

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

Father Timothy give three names to protect Ram of the different problems of religion. India and Pakistan have wars because of identity. Timothy want to protect his boys.

-How did Ram spend his childhood?

He used to play with the other kids of the neighbordhood. When father Timothy went to United Kingdom to visit his family, Ram went too. This language will help Ram in the future.

-How diferent was Ram Mohammad Thomas' childhood from yours?

My childhood was very nice. I can remember playing all day with my friends.. I was happier than now. I want to go back in the time and be a kid!

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

Ram will miss a lot Father Timothy. But he have to carry on and search his place in the world.

Cheat!

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

In my opinion I think that Smita saw the TV show and reconize Ram. And she wants to help Ram because Ram helped she in the past. She know that Ram is a good man, not a guilty man.


-Why was Ram surprised to see Smita?

Because Smita becames his lawyer. He doens't expect it because he hasn't money for pay Smita's service.

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The main character

-His name combines the names of three religions. Which are they?

Ram Mohammad Thomas: Ram is from Hindu, Mohammad is form Muslim and Thomas is from Christianity.


-Where does he grow up?

He was born in Delhi and grows up in the city of Mumbai.


People, places and events in the story.

-Who was Surdas?

He was a saint, poet and musician. He was born in a small village in India. He couldn't see. Surdas was very religious man and wrote over one thousand poems, though only around eight thousand can be found today. He left his family at the age of six.

-  What is the connection between Surdas and the main character?

When Mamman catch Ram and Salim, Mamman gave them singer's lessons and his favourite song was Surdas because it's considerate the song of the people that can not see.

-  What is the historical background? What war appears in the story?

The historical building is Taj Mahal. This building appear in the book when Ram fall in love with Nita. Ram Mohammad Thomas was the guide of Nita in Taj Mahal because he needs the money to go back to Mumbai with his friend Salim.

-  What is the story behind Taj Mahal? 

The Taj Mahal was built by Emperor Shahjahan. Work started in 1631 and took 22 years. The Emperor falled in love with 'the chose one'. The got married and had fourteen children. The woman died while giving birth to the last child in 1631. Before she died, Emperor promised to build the most beautiful palace in the world for her. The result was the Taj Mahal.

The TV show- Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

The TV show that appear in this story is: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. This show has been seen in more than one hundred countries. In Spain we have our show called: Quién quiere ser millonario?. The Indian version of the show started in 2000 and has been hosted by Bollywood actors. Sometimes in this show we can see people competing for charity and, in some countries, children competing against one another for prizes for their schools.

Here we can see a video of the TV show in United Kingdom:

Viras Swarup interview

In this video, we can see the author talking about his books and the film Slumdog Millionaire.

 

A note about the author

The author of Slumdog Millionaire is Vikas Swarup. This man was born in India. Vikas went to study psychology, history and philosofy at Allahabad University. In 1986, he joined the Indian Foreign Service. As a diplomat, he worked at Turkey, the United States of America, Ethiopia, Great Britian and South Afrifca. In August 2009, he became Consul General of India in Japan.

Q and A is the title of the book which was made into the film Slumdog Millionaire. This was his first book. It took him only two months to write, but has now been published in forty-two different languages and made into a very succesful film. He has written a second novel, Six Suspects, which was published in 2008.

Vikes likes listening music, playing cricket(the famous sport in India) tennis and table tennis. He is married to Aparna and the have two sons, Aditya and Varun.