1,000 Rupees: The Death Of A Hero
The first chapter starts with a flashback to Ram's past, in which he describes a visit to the local cinema with Salim, his best friend, where they watch a film with Armaan Ali, an Indian actor, and Salim's greatest idol.
In addition to talking about Armaan Ali, whose name is invented to stand for a typical Bollywood hero for the story of Q & A, there are also references to real-life Bollywood stars such as Amitabh Bachchan and Sharukh Khan, reminding the reader of the relation of Ram's story with real living conditions in India.
Ram describes their visit at the cinema in great detail. The story is also interspersed with flashbacks, in which he decsribes to which extend Salim is a fan of Armaan, and how his happiness and anger relate to Armaan's life. One moment, Salim is happy because he saw Armaan, and the next, he is devestated, because Armaan has apparently ended his relationship with Urvashi, a Bollywood actress, or newspapers have written that he was gay; the latter leading to Salim burning all said newspapers in a fire in their chawl.
On the level of the cinema narrarive, Ram describes the film, in wich a "gangster with a heart" (p. 32) steals form the rich to help the poor, falls in love with the heroine Priya Kapoor, and finally dies.
Off the screen, in the cinema, Salim is molested by an elderly man who repeatedly tries to touch him, and flees when Salim screams at him and slaps his face. The boys, however, catch a glimpse of the man's face who is described to look exactly like Armaan, Salim's hero, which leads to Salim's disillusionment: "Armaan Ali, his hero, has died." (p. 41)
The storyline then shifts back to the "present" with Smita, who mentions that this story could end Armaan Ali's career. They then watch the videotape of the show, in which Ram answers the Prem Kumar's (the show's host) first question about a film of Armaan Alia dn Priya Kapoor, and so wins the first 1,00 rupees referred to in the chapter's title. (bel)
2,000 Rupees: The Burden Of A Priest
Aron: Ram was born 18 years ago at the first day of Christmas in the St. Mary church. He was an orphan who was left by his mother in wrapped clothes. He is released for adoption but nobody was interested in his person. Ram doesn’t have a name: “I was precisely called baby – The baby that no one wanted” (p. 46, l. 20-21)Ram is finally adopted by Mrs Philomena Thomas (who works as a scrubwoman) and her husband Dominic Thomas (who worksas a gardener). Mrs Thomas left her husband and went with the tailor Mastan Sheikh to Bhopal a few days later. Her husband is furious and so he drags Ram in his cradle to the priest’s house and dumps him there. Father Timothy takes care of the baby for six years and gives Ram the names Joseph Michael Thomas. Six days later, two men from the All Faith Committee come to examine the orphan. They discuss the name of the baby because nobody can say anything about the denomination of the parents, and it’s a considered a sin to convert a Muslim or Hindu. The two men and Father Timothy agree on the new name Ram Mohammad Thomas. Ram becomes a very religious boy because of Father Timothy who teaches the life of Jesus, Adam and Eva and other religions for him. Due to the fact that the relation was never exactly defined between Ram and father Timothy, Ram isn’t sure how important he is for him: “It was never made clear to me whether I was servant or son, parasite or pet.” (p. 52, l. 23) One Sunday, Father Timothy isn’t alone at the altar; another young priest named Father John Little stands beside him. Father Timothy invites Father John Little for dinner. Ram inadvertently spills the soup on Father John Little who very impulsively reacted (“Bloody Hell!” (p. 54, l. 10); “You’re that idiot orphan boy who spilled soup on me the other day! You’d better behave yourself in Father Timothy’s absence. I’ll be watching you very carefully.” (p. 54, l.17-20)). From now on, Ram is afraid of John. Three days later, he goes to a shop with Joseph. There, Ram meets a biker who beats him on the head. But Ram doesn’t realize that it was Father John Little. Ram sees that Father John Little has strange tattoos on his body, collects strange magazines under his bed, often has visitors whom he doesn’t know and gives foreign people “medicine”. So Ram is glad when Father Timothy returns from his journey.
Then he becomes acquainted with Ian, an English backpacker who moves through Delhi. Ram sees through a keyhole how Father John Little Ian does something to Ian. He informs father Timothy of the story who tells him he should go to bed. The next day, he discovers Father Timothy and Father John Little show to death. Ram cries for three hours together with Ian and says to Ian that he has lost his father and that he is a real orphan now. Ian replies that Father Timothy as well was his father and he is a real orphan now, too.
At the end of the chapter we are back in the show and Ram answers the question number two for two thousands rupees correctly through what he learnt from Father Timothy. Importance for the story: This chapter covers the early years of Ram's life. It is explained that Ram was abandoned at an orphanage shortly after birth.
A significant relationship: How Father Timothy becomes a father figure to Ram, even though he is not his dad.
This chapter is set in: Ram's early childhood
Characters: Ram; Philomena & Dominic Thomas; Father Timothy (Francis); Father John Little; Ian; (Prem Kumar)
Anthony: In this chapter, the reader learns about the conditions under which Ram was born and raised. It is learned that he was born and left to be an orphan at a church in Dhali, where he was later adopted by a couple, but was soon after abandoned again and left under the care of Father Thomas.
As the years went on, he was taught to read and write, learned about several religions, and many other valuable skills with Father Thomas, as well as the truth about his parents. Upon the introduction of Father John in their lives, problems arose that included homosexuality, rape, drug abuse, and ended in the murder of Father Thomas and Father John’s suicide. This left Ram an orphan once again, and the story cuts to being with his lawyer, retelling his story, and then to the game show, where he answers a religious question he knew about through Father Thomas' teachings.
5,000 Rupees: A Brother's Promise
Moric: “The rich people, those who live in their marble and granite four-bedroom flats, they enjoy. The slum people, who live in squalid, tattered huts, they suffer. And we, who reside in the overcrowded chawls, we simply live.” These sentences best describe the situation in Mumbai with all its people and “slumdogs”. And thus it describes the situation of Ram, who lives within one of those squalid, tattered huts. And he suffers.Mrs and Mr Shantaram and their daughter, Gudiya are moving in one of the huts next to Ram, for the father lost his job as a famous space scientist, as he almost beat the director of the Institute to death. After he has lost his job as a physics teacher as well, he's just doing odd jobs, such as working as a canteen manager or a sales assistant. For this reason, they had to move into the slums. As we soon experience, he's a drunkard, who fairly often beats his wife and molests his daughter. Ram and Salim like listening to conversations of others, so they take their cups and hold them to the wall to be able to understand what's going on in the hut next to their own. As they do it over and over again, they find out lots of more or less important facts about Mr Shantaram’s family life. That's when Ram realizes that the father abuses the other family members. He realizes, too, that they have a little kitten, which is called after the smallest of all the planets in our solar system: Pluto. He finds out things like that while listening to Mr Shantaram’s tutorials about the Milky Way, the Little Bear, the Great Bear and the Pole Star.
One day, the father of Gudiya pours hot water over her, so she has to go to hospital, where Ram is allowed to visit her. They quickly become good friends, tell their life stories to each other and are fulfilled with a feeling of affection. She even calls him her brother who she had always been searching. At home again, Ram is trying to comply with his promise as a brother to help and protect her of his father. That's what he eventually did by killing her father: he pushed him off a bridge. To save his own life, he had to escape to Delhi to live a new life, and he didn’t even have the time to tell Salim. The story line then switches back to the quiz show, and because of his eaves-dropping in the chawl, Ram can answer the next question for 5,000 rupees: “Which is the smallest planet in our solar system?”
Jennifer G:
After the disturbing approach attempt in the cinema, Salim tears down all posters of his former idol Armaan, tears them into tiny pieces and burns everything in a fire.
Ram, who once lived with an actress in her flat, is able to hear through the walls as they are very thin. With only a stainless-steel cup held to the wall he can hear for instance how Mr Shantaram tells his daughet Gudiya about the stellar constellation and the planets, how she found a cat and how it is called ‘Pluto’ because the cat, too, is the smallest member fo the family, just like Pluto is the smallest planet. But for certain events, the stainless-steel cup is not even necessary, as Mr Shantaram is loud enough himself for the neighbors to hear. He starts to come back to the chawl in a drunken state and the following arguments with his wife more and more often end with him throwing things at walls and family members. This eventually leads to Gudiya, in the attempt of protecting her mother from a piping-hot cup of tea, being hospitalized. Asked by Gudiya’s mother, Ram visits her in the hospital and gets to know a few things about her and her father.
After her return, Mr Shantaram starts to try to touch and rape her, which – because of the special bond he and Gudiya have – causes so much pain and releases so much anger in Ram, that one day, he simply slams the drunk Mr Shantaram against a weak railing. The railing can’t hold his weight and he falls to the ground. After that incident, Rams leaves as fast as possible to Delhi. At the end of the chapter, the storyline shifts back to the quiz show. The third question for 5,000 Rupees was simple: “Which is the smallest planet in our solar system?” Ram just had to think of the cat, of the girl he had a special bound to and whose hand he had held through a hole in the wall to show her that he was with her. His answer was ‘Pluto’ and of course, the answer was correct.
10,000 Rupees: A Thought For The Crippled
Jendrik: After the death of father Timothy, Ram / Mohammed moves to a new home for orphans. It has a capacity of 75 children. They don’t have very much space and everything is very dirty. But one time, Ram / Mohammed gets sick and he has to be separated from the other roommates. He enjoys having a room on his own. But one day a boy also has to be separate, and this boy is Salim. Salim tells Mohammed his story – why he has to be in this orphanage. There was a rebellion in his slum and Hindus burned his house down and killed his family. He ran away and was alone for two days until he got to this house. They both get on very well; they like to play marbles and watch TV, so they become best friends. One day Salim was called in the Night to Gupta’s room (Gupta is the deputy of the warden). They both didn’t know what happens in there. But when Gupta says to Salim he should take off his trousers, Mohammed quickly realizes what’s going on, and he screams as loud as he can. The cook and the warden hear him and Salimis saved. On another day, there is a trip organized by an NGO to a zoo, to the highest building of India and also a big carnival. And there, everyone gets 10 rupees, so Salim goes to a palmist and his future sounds very positive: the palmist says he will be a great actor. Mohammed is told that he hasn’t got a very nice future but he gets an old coin which should bring him luck and when the coin is dropped under a bench, he finds a 10 rupee note. So he can buy ice cream for Salim and him. Time passes, until one day, a man called maman comes to the orphanage and takes Salim and Mohammed with him. They think their life will change to the positive. In the new house, the conditions are slightly better and Maman has a teacher teach them how to sing. Salim is a talent, but Ram / Mohammed is not. But they find out that the children have to beg for their food. After they have finished all lessons Maman and his gang want to blind both to make more money with them on the street. But they can run away and go to a women who gave the beggar kids always enough money so that they wouldn’t get punished. Mohammed gets a job there. Then, this story is followed by a scene with Smita and then a scene in the show where Mohammed answers the 10,000-rupees-question correctly. Moritz:Ram lives in the “Dheli Juvenile Home”, an orphanage for boys. The boys get beaten by Mr. Gupta, the deputy, even abused. Ram becomes the head of a group within the orphanage and has advantages because Thomas speaks English. Then Salim comes into the home because his family was killed by Hindus. They become “Bros”. Mr. Gupta tries to abuse Salim but he is held up by Ram’s cry and the other men in the orphanage. During this chapter the boys get a trip to a fair, which is paid for by an NGO. Salim and Thomas go to a fortune teller. The fortune teller says that Salim will become a famous actor. The fortune teller also tells Ram the future but his future isn’t so good. Because of his future he gets a “lucky coin” from the fortune teller. Salim and Thomas are selected by Sethji to go with him to Mumbai. They don't know what Sethji's plans are. They were just told that he is a man who helps handicapped children. Salim and Thomas become members of his “school” in Mumbai. When the two see the other children, they are shocked. They are blind, only have one leg etc. They are taught by a teacher who they call Masterji in music and song. Ram and Salim learn sad stories from the other children and that Maman's school isn't a normal school, but one for the education of begging children. Ram makes his first experience with drugs by sniffing glue. The boy told him he would feel wonderful. But he doesn’t see any wonderful vision of things like Jitu. He goes through a horror dream. After this he decides never to take drugs again. They find out that Maman’s men want to blind Salim and him to earn money, but they decide to escape from the school, which they manage to do at the last minute. At the end of the chapter, we are at the quiz show again and Ram answers the question correctly.
50,000 Rupees: Hold On To Your Buttons
In this chapter, Ram Mohammad Thomas tells about his work at the house of Colonel Charles Taylor. It starts when a census man comes up to their house to take up the names of every person. There is Colonel Charles, his wife Rebecca Taylor, their daughter Maggie Taylor, their son Roy Tailor and the four servants. Their names are Bhagwati, Shanti, Ramu and Thomas. The Colonel and his family are diplomats from Australia. He gives the man a bottle of Jonny Walker Red Label, a whisky. For him, that’s the common method to make “bloody Indians” content. Afterwards, several servants stole things. They all got kicked out, because Colonel Taylor is The Man Who Knows. He finds out everything and nobody knows how. Ram is the only one who can stay and because of this, the family trusts him the most. He can even go into the bedrooms and watch TV. From time to time Ram feels like a part of the family, but then Colonel Taylor says something about bloody Indians and his phantasy is broken. Another thing which he can’t become familiar with is the Australian English. Because of that, he practices “G’day Maite, see you at aight at India Gaite”. The children of this family read the newspaper “Australian Geographic” and Ram reads it now, too. There are beautiful pictures of Australia in there and he wants to go there very badly.
One day, the High Commissioner comes to a garden party of the Taylor family. They all dress up. After this visit, Ramu, that’s the cook, can’t fall asleep, because he has stolen a bra from Maggie. He is in love with her. Ram knows that Ramu will not stay longer, because Mister Taylor is The Man Who Knows. And he is right. The next morning the police inspector comes. First they think Ram has stolen the bra, because it is in his bed, but afterwards Colonel Taylor says that it was Ramu. The police inspector takes Ramu with him and gets a bottle of whiskey for that.
They find a new cook, but he cooks very badly. Maggie has now a dog and Ram has to go out with it every morning. One morning he catches Mr. Taylor when he talks with Mr. Kumar. They meet each other from time to time but we don’t know yet why. Shortly after that,Mr. Taylor catches his wife with an affair. He also catches his son kissing Shanti and his daughter smoking cigarettes. Then Colonel Taylor’s mother dies. Everyone is very sad. The family goes to Austalia to see her and to take part in the funeral. When they are away, the new cook breaks into the house and wants to steal money, but they don’t have money in the house. Ram sees the Den, a forbidden room for him, for the first time from the inside. The cook takes some things with him and goes away. Ram discovers that all over the house are cameras. Because of that the Colonel knows it all. Ram calls the Colonel on his cell phone. He gets the mission to make sure that nobody can come into this room until he is back. By accident, Ram hears a phone talk between Mr. Taylor and Jeevan Kumar. They will meet each other at 8 pm near the India gate.
The next day Mr. Taylor is declared persona non grata, because he took top-secret documents from Jeevan Kumar. As a persona non grata you have to leave the country within 48 hours. Mr. Taylor asks who has told the police where they will meet and the officer says it was an Australian. He said “G’day maite, go to the India Gate tonight at aite.”Ram leaves the family with his 52’000 rupees pay. The story line shifts then to Smita, and then to the videotaped quiz show, where the question was ‘what does it mean when the government declares a foreign diplomat persona non grata’? And Ram knows it. This scene is important because Ram knows the answer only because he had to do with this. Another thing is that he has now money and can do what he wants. I think there are no open questions left in this chapter.
100,000 Rupees: Hold On To Your Buttons
Celia: Ram went to Mumbai just to meet Nita. The doctors in Agra said that it would take at least four months to recover from her injuries. So, Ram lives in a part of Mumbai called Dharavi. There are a lot of people living in Dharavi although it’s illegal. There is no running water but it’s all Ram can afford.From midday until after midnight, Ram works at Jimmy’s Bar and Restaurant. Even if Ram hasn’t thought he would manage it to work with drunken people, it was the only establishment that offered him a job.
In the night, Ram has to sell the expensive alcohol to the drunken people. One night, there’s a man who came in a Mercedes car, so he has enough money to spend a lot for drinks. Ram starts to speak with him and the man slowly starts to tell Ram the story about himself, his ex-wife, his brother and his secretary.
For the next question, there does not seem to be much hope left, because Ram doesn’t know any capitals of other countries. The 100’000 rupees question is: What is the capital of Papua New Guinea? a) Port Louis b) Port-au-Prince c) Port Moresby or d) Port Adelaide.
Ram doesn’t know the right answer but he knows the wrong answers and so he can answer the question correctly, just because the drunken man had told him his story and the story of his ex-wife from Haiti.
Daniel:
After his adventures in Agra, Ram can’t forget Nita. But the doctors had told him that it would take 4 months for her to fully recover from her injuries, and he also knows that Shyam won’t allow him to see her anyway. Therefore, he has returned to Mumbai. But he doesn’t want to see Salim because he is afraid that he might get involved in his “crazy life and crazy plans” (p. 141, l. 26f). He now lives in a place called Dharavi and he doesn’t want to return to his former home in the chawl. He is working as a bartender in “Jimmy’s Bar”. The strategy of his boss is simple. Make customers talk and they will buy more drink and food. So every day Ram listens to the customer’s stories. But one story he will never forget.
It’s the story of Prakash Rao. He was a normal man “once upon a time”. And he had a brother. A rich brother because he owned a factory. Arvind (the brother) was a good man and gave Prakash a job in his business. And as time passed, Arvind’s confidence into Prakash’s abilities increased and he sent him to New York as manager for the international business. Now there, Prakash met the illegal immigrant Julie and one day, he married her. But Julie simply wanted more money, and encouraged him to cheat and steal to make even more money. But Arvind found this out and kicked Prakash out of the enterprise. But as Julie was a voodoo priestess from Haiti, she made a voodoo puppet of Arvind and gave it to Prakash to punish him. Everyone thought Arvind had gone mad and they made Prakash their new managing director. Arvind died and Prakash met his soul mate, Jyotsna. Prakash suddenly realized what he had done and wanted the divorce of Julie. But while telling Ram this story, Prakash suddenly screamed and died. The narrative moves back to Smita and Ram, and Smita tells Ram she doesn’t quite believe this “mumbo-jumbo nonsense” (p. 154, l. 12). They then watch the tape of the show with the next question. Because of Prakash’s story, Ram can answer the next question, as he knew which cities are not the capital of Papua New Guinea. It is not Port Louis (He knows it is in Mauritius). It is not Port-au-Prince (Capital of Haiti, where Julia comes from). And it is not Port Adelaide (Adelaide is in Australia and he knows it because of his work as a servant for an Australian family). So it must be C) Port Moresby.
200,000 Rupees: Murder on the Western Express
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