Review

Hey ….
Last time you wrote me that you are interested in reading Q&A, didn’t you? So I just found a review of it in our newspaper the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. Maybe it helps you for your decision. The report says, the story is written charming and swift. I agree with this opinion, the feelings of Ram – especially the ones with Nita – are written very charmy. And because these parts are not to long it’s not getting boring. The review tells Ram hasn’t many emotions, but I think that is wrong. He’s just a bit realistic and sees that dreams aren’t as mightful as money. The critic the book is describing is correct and shows small stories of the everyday life of the Indian people. It shows all of Indian – not just the rich or the poor part- it’s about Taj Mahal, orphanage, chawls and slums.
All in all I think I can recommend the book and hope you’ll enjoy.

Chapter 13 / 3

a) It shows that there isn’t just false and right and if you’re are doing just a bit wrong it can make everything bad. It also shows that it isn’t easy to recognize if something is good or bad.
b) It shows that rich Indian poeple avoid problems of the poor and don’t want to work for the others health.
c) Indian people, who live in chawls or in the slum work hard – it doesn’t matter in wich business – and risk their own physical and sanitary health, so that they don’t hunger.
d) It shows that money in India is equal to might. With money you can make others to your marionettes and control their thoughts. So this shows the corruptness in India and that dreams are less worth than money.

Feedback to Slumdog Millionaire

In my oppinion Slumdog Millionaire was the best book I had to read in school, so far. It was the first one where I wasn’t bored while reading. The flashbacks made this story sometimes a bit complex, but also interesting and made you understand Ram better and better step by step. The arc of suspense was a bit to small, but OK. Hopefully I can write the same about „Angela“ in the next term.

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is a symbol of enduring love: Prince Khurram built the Taj Mahal to show the eternal love to his deceased wife Arjuman Banu, but her was given the name Mumtaz Mahal. After 18 years marriage and 14 childs Mumtaz Mahal died in childbirth. Before dying she wanted Khurram to do four things: „first, that he errect a monument to match her beauty; second that he should not marry again“ and to other things. As evidence for his love he built Taj Mahal. It says that „as a monument to enduring love, the Taj reveals its subleties to those who know how to appreciate beauty.“
Ram’s job as a tourist guide: Ram who came to the Taj Mahal had luck and came that day where the entry was free. After he associated a group of tourists, he splitted while they wanted to go inside and remained outside. Accidentally four people said to him: „Please, dcan you tell little bit about Taj Mahal. We are tourists. From Japan. We new tou your ity. We come just today.“ The possibility to earn money made him to tell them waht he remembered. Although the stuff he remembered was wrong the tourists paid him well, because they thought Rams infromation would be better than the ones inside the tourist guide. So he thought: „I want to stay in the city of the Taj Mahal, and I wouldn’t mind becoming a tourist guide.“
How Ram’s living conditions improve: Ram earned a lot information about the Taj Mahal over a few days and a lot money – „enough to pay rent for the next two months!“. The fact he speaked fluent english made it more easy for him. He soon realized his better life „I also started earning good money from the tourists. Not a fortune, but certainly enough to pay my rent, eat in McDonald’s or Pizza Hut once in a while, and still manage to save up for a rainy day.“

slum Mumbai Dharavi facts

– Over 55% of Mumbai’s population dwelled in slums, which was staggering figure of 1 million people
– 217 hectares big
– It used to be the largest slum in Mumbai at one time, but as of 2011, there are four slums in Mumbai larger than Dharavi.
– rents were as low as US$4 per month
– two main suburban railway lines, the Western and Central Railways
– 18th century, Dharavi was an island

Begging children and mutiliations in India

In India exists the so-called ‚beggar mafia‘. They consist of people who act as social workers. If they see the kids on the street without parents and no chance of a nice future they get their victims. They go to them and offer them a nice and better life or abducate them from their parents. But in fact they have a bad intention, they dismember these kids to earn money. For example they cut off a health leg or arm, they put hot stuff into their eyes to make them blind or inject somthing to let a part of the kid dies off and has to be amputated. If this is finished they force the kids to begg or sing to earn money. But they’re not allowed to keep it and have to give it to the ‚beggar mafia‘. This happens round about 44.000 times a year. In Mumabi about $3,6 million is the annual amount collected by beggars. The kids have to work 15 hours a day and 7 day in a week.

Chapter 9

1) Love: She has a secret lover (Prem Kumar). He mistreats and exploits her.
Beauty: It is said that she is beautiful, but wants to appeal younger and so she uses a lot make-up and other cosmetic.
Fantasy world: She wants to be younger and wants to be sucessful as an actor again.
Reputation: „Tragedy Queen“
Personal traits: She is friendly, but she „allows“ others to exploit her. Because of her age and that her carrier as an actor is finished she’s quite depressed.
Acting: Once she was a reallye famous actor and known as the „tragedy queen“, but now she isn’t in the business anymore.
2) a) courageous, adventurer
b) realist
c) dreamer
d) fearful person
4) Neelima Kumar is dead. The famous actor, known as the „Tragedy Queen“ died one month ago. The woman who delighted us as a brilliant actor in so many films commited suicide. One month after her suicide her body was found because some inhabitants made attention to the smell of her rotting body.

Chapter 8

1) a) Both are similes. It means the people there live an inhuman live. Also it meens that there die a lot people and no one reallye cares about that.
b) This is a metaphor. It means that Dharavi is their last chance to get a better life and the place they search there own piece of heaven.
c) This is a metaphor. This means how the poeple turn in Dharavi. Their hope gets lost and turn to despair and anger.
d) This is an image. Dharavi is the part of Mumbai nobody likes and they want to disappear.
e) This is a personification. That means that the people doesn’t believe that there will be a change in Dharavi and choose not to care about what happens there.
f) It’s a metaphor or a personifcation. It means that the rich part of the city will become dirtier in the future, because the slums are growing and no one is doing s.th. against that.

Chapter 13

1) a) T „I did not get a full billion rupees, I got a little less“ (l. 13) „Salim has landed the role of a seventenn-year-old-college hero in a comedy film…“ (l. 29-31)
b) F „She also found out that nobody had even heard abot the dead dacoit on the train and there was no pendin investigation.“ (l. 4-6)
c) T „The company producin W3B folded after the massive payout.“ (l. 14, 15)
d) T „The uniformed driver is following us at a snail’s pace in a Mercedes Benz …“ (l. 37, 38) „She is now my lawfully wedded wife…“ (l. 33, 34)
e) T „According to the police, he committed suicide by gassing himself to death in his car.“ (l. 17, 18)
f) F – The coin can’t help him to make decissions because “ it’s heads on both sides!“ (l. 66, 67)

Chapter 12

2) I could have never guessed that Ram is somebody who wants to kill somebody. So far Ram seemed to me like a friendly guy who would never have enough agression to make a plan about killing somebody. In a different way I have to say, that it hadn’t surprised me that he hadn’t killed Prem Kumar. He never wanted to hurt somebody so far. That the father of Gudiya fell over the handrail, back then, was also just a mistake.
Ultimately this paragraph confirmed my oppinion, that Ram is a round character