Summary
I have reached the end of the story is Ram going to have a happy ending or a sad ending? Ram is starving and wants to find food, he ended up getting free leftover food from Mcdonalds. He walked to Arga and saw the Taj Mahal, since it was Friday he got to see it for free. Taking advantage of the the foreigners thinking he was a tour guide person he earned a lot of money. Do not worry after being a tour guide for awhile he learned the correct history. Ram moved into a outhouse, by the way he changed his name to Raju Sharma since he was in a different place. Meeting Lajwanti the owner of the outhouse and Shanker a person she tooked care because he had a speech defect. Lajwanti wants her sister to get marry, so low on money she steals a necklace and gets caught and sent to jail. Some of Ram's friends brought him to a prostitute area, where he meets a girl named Nita and they are both 17. They end up making love after he asked questions about her life. Ram begins to fall in love with her and they start going out. Ram wants her to stop being a prostitute so he can marry her, but he must pay her brother 4 lakh rupees and that's money Ram can not even earn until years. Nita gets abused really badly where she needs surgery, Ram joins the quiz show so he can win the money to be able to be with her. He tells his lawyer he has not heard from her in 4 months. Shanker ends up dying really hurting Ram where he cries about it every time he talks about it. The 11th question asked about which Shakespeare play included Costard as a character. Ram used phone a friend, Mr. Chatterjee a man Ram helped when his son was hostipalized, he did not know the answer but told Ram to pick "Love's Labour's Lost" Ram picked it and it was correct he now has 100 million rupees. It has came to the 13th question the final one for 1 billion rupees. The host Prem Kumar is confident Ram would not get this question right. Ram knew all about the Taj Mahal and when he said the correct answer, the show made an excuse saying that was not question he meant to ask. When it was break Ram and Kumar went to the bathroom, Ram hold a gun up to Kumar saying that he was the one who abuse Nita and Neelima because he noticed that exact same marks he put on Neelima on Nita. Kumar convinced Ram not to kill him so they continued with the show.The last question was Beethoven's Paino Sonata is played in which key, Ram used life boat 50-50 to elimate two wrong answers, he used his lucky coin guessed A and won! After he found out his lawyer was really Gudiya from the chawl. Six months went by and Ram's lawyer helped him win the case, he ended up not getting the full 1 billion rupees because of a "game show tax" the show was canceled. Lajwanti was released from jail, Salim got a role as a 17 year old college hero and it was Ram who helped him. Ram is married to the love of his life Nita and Prem Kumar committed suicide, and Ram's lucky coin was actually a double sided heads and he ended up throwing it way because he did not need it anymore. It was a happy ending after all for Ram Mohammad Thomas.
Quotation
This is the very last page of the story where Ram and Smita are talking about the coin, "I take the coin from her and toss it high into the air. It goes up, up, and up glints briefly against the turquoise sky, and then drops swiftly into the ocean and sinks into its cavernous depths" (Swarup 318).
Reaction
Ram has brought this "lucky coin" everywhere with him it was like in every chapter it does not matter if it was in the beginning, middle, or end of the chapter he used it. Now finding out that it was heads on both sides, I think back thats why it always landed on heads and is the reasons he always betted on heads. The word choice Swarup used in this part blew me away because I could actually picture the golden coin shiny as it reaches it highest to touch the sky. It is at the moment where I thought Ram is going to grab it as it falls because thats his coin. In shocked that he let the coin drop into the ocean this shows that Ram is ready to move on, that he wants to let go of his past. Since the coin fell so deep into the oceans it foreshadows that Ram's problems have been properly put away, because he does not have to worry if they will show up again while the coin is deep in the ocean and will slowly move further and further away from India. Its is like if Ram would of kept the coin then I would of known that Ram believes he still needs luck in order to get by life in a happy manner. Noticing his life was going good after the the quiz show was over, there was no need to rely on a gold coin for luck but as Ram said, "I won't need it anymore. Because luck comes from within" (Swarup 318). Ram has always use his luck from within himself because his coin was double heads, so he used his instinct for when he came into hard situations. I am glad Ram's story ended well where he now feels happy.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Q&A (pgs166-237)
Summary
As Ram is telling his lawyer how he knew the answers, his story jumps around a bit so sometimes he would be with Salim or saying he has not seen him in a long time so bare with me. Ram explains how he knew the 8th question, this takes place when Salim and Ram are younger. There is this war going on with India and Pakistan, so Ram, Salim, and some friends will play war games and say that they love war because school was close. An old man named Sikh comes saying that they should not be happy that there is war. Sikh told them the whole story of what war was like for him in 1971. All the kids very interested in his story, Sikh says he saved a man's life and properly buried his friend like he promised. Ram learns Param Vir Chakra is the highest honor in the military. The kids called him a war hero, so a random man asks who, they show him Sikh the man laughs. Turns out Sikh lied about about the whole story, and really did not participate in the war. The 8th question was about what was the highest honor in the military, Ram said Param Vir Chakra and won 500,000 rupees. Ram has not saw Salim in 5 years so now they are much older and this is closer to when Ram is on the quiz show. They bump into each other and was in shocked, Ram says that Salim is better looking now. Salim tells Ram what had happen in the past 5 years. Salim was almost killed in this attack against the Muslim people but Ahmad Khan saved him. Salim wants to be a famous actor. Salim starts living with Ahmad Khan he found out that he is an assassin, so when Salim finds out he will assassinate Abbas Rizvi a director that couches Salim, he tells him. Abbas Rizvi runs away a promises Salim a role in a new movie. Ram new the answer to the 9th question because Salim briefly talk about the game between India and Austrialia, so Ram guessed that Sachin Malvankar scored 36 and won 1,000,000 rupees. It goes back to the past for the 10th question. Ram is the servent for famous actress Neelima Kumari and he begins to find out he does not like his job because everything is about her. She also kept talking about all the movies she done and how she wants to die young so people can remember her young. Ms. Kumari was known for being the Tragedy Queen and winning the National Award in 1985. Neelima was dealing with physical abuse from her now ex-boyfriend and drugs, she died from drugs and when Ram came for work he saw her laying there lifeless and ran away so the police would not think he murder her. The host wants to "help" Ram to win the show but he tricks him into thinking he will ask this other question. Ram is in shocked when the host asks him what year did Neelima Kumari the National Award for Tragedy Queen, Ram answer 1985 correctly and now won 10,000,000 rupees. The host in shocked too.
Quotation
The host Prem Kumar wants to help Ram, "Mr. Thomas has agreed to go into the Play or Pay rounds...Okay let me tell you about the next question. I am going to ask you, What is the length of the Palk Strait between India and Sir Lanka...The correct answer is (c) 137 kilometers" (Swarup 234).
Reaction
It is so wrong of these people trying to make Ram lose this quiz show, in the beginning the host was trying to help Ram win the money but now that Ram is getting big bucks he wants him to lose. I really think Ram should not trust this man after this little trick he played. Even though if that was the question Ram should of have not trust that answer at all, but I could understand why Ram would trust the host. The host keeps saying things like we want you win so I will help you. All I know now that the host is going to have hard time trying to trick Ram because Ram knows now not to trust him. I wounder why does Prem Kumar the host care if Ram wins or not it just a quiz show, they do not know the real reason why he even joined the show. Its like you think you can trust people but you can not because with the money Ram is winning I bet everyone would want to be his friend. This is a new show so how would think he is cheating. I was kind of expecting for the host trying to do something sneaky like that but it back fired on the host because Ram knew the answer to that question. I wonder what goes on in Prem Kumar's mind when Ram gets these question correct before I thought he was happy for him. As the more questions get answer I think Mr. Kumar gets jealous of Ram, saying things like he should take the money and run because Ram will not get the next one. If Prem Kumar tries another trick I hope Ram does not fall for it because he is so close to winning 1 billion rupees.
As Ram is telling his lawyer how he knew the answers, his story jumps around a bit so sometimes he would be with Salim or saying he has not seen him in a long time so bare with me. Ram explains how he knew the 8th question, this takes place when Salim and Ram are younger. There is this war going on with India and Pakistan, so Ram, Salim, and some friends will play war games and say that they love war because school was close. An old man named Sikh comes saying that they should not be happy that there is war. Sikh told them the whole story of what war was like for him in 1971. All the kids very interested in his story, Sikh says he saved a man's life and properly buried his friend like he promised. Ram learns Param Vir Chakra is the highest honor in the military. The kids called him a war hero, so a random man asks who, they show him Sikh the man laughs. Turns out Sikh lied about about the whole story, and really did not participate in the war. The 8th question was about what was the highest honor in the military, Ram said Param Vir Chakra and won 500,000 rupees. Ram has not saw Salim in 5 years so now they are much older and this is closer to when Ram is on the quiz show. They bump into each other and was in shocked, Ram says that Salim is better looking now. Salim tells Ram what had happen in the past 5 years. Salim was almost killed in this attack against the Muslim people but Ahmad Khan saved him. Salim wants to be a famous actor. Salim starts living with Ahmad Khan he found out that he is an assassin, so when Salim finds out he will assassinate Abbas Rizvi a director that couches Salim, he tells him. Abbas Rizvi runs away a promises Salim a role in a new movie. Ram new the answer to the 9th question because Salim briefly talk about the game between India and Austrialia, so Ram guessed that Sachin Malvankar scored 36 and won 1,000,000 rupees. It goes back to the past for the 10th question. Ram is the servent for famous actress Neelima Kumari and he begins to find out he does not like his job because everything is about her. She also kept talking about all the movies she done and how she wants to die young so people can remember her young. Ms. Kumari was known for being the Tragedy Queen and winning the National Award in 1985. Neelima was dealing with physical abuse from her now ex-boyfriend and drugs, she died from drugs and when Ram came for work he saw her laying there lifeless and ran away so the police would not think he murder her. The host wants to "help" Ram to win the show but he tricks him into thinking he will ask this other question. Ram is in shocked when the host asks him what year did Neelima Kumari the National Award for Tragedy Queen, Ram answer 1985 correctly and now won 10,000,000 rupees. The host in shocked too.
Quotation
The host Prem Kumar wants to help Ram, "Mr. Thomas has agreed to go into the Play or Pay rounds...Okay let me tell you about the next question. I am going to ask you, What is the length of the Palk Strait between India and Sir Lanka...The correct answer is (c) 137 kilometers" (Swarup 234).
Reaction
It is so wrong of these people trying to make Ram lose this quiz show, in the beginning the host was trying to help Ram win the money but now that Ram is getting big bucks he wants him to lose. I really think Ram should not trust this man after this little trick he played. Even though if that was the question Ram should of have not trust that answer at all, but I could understand why Ram would trust the host. The host keeps saying things like we want you win so I will help you. All I know now that the host is going to have hard time trying to trick Ram because Ram knows now not to trust him. I wounder why does Prem Kumar the host care if Ram wins or not it just a quiz show, they do not know the real reason why he even joined the show. Its like you think you can trust people but you can not because with the money Ram is winning I bet everyone would want to be his friend. This is a new show so how would think he is cheating. I was kind of expecting for the host trying to do something sneaky like that but it back fired on the host because Ram knew the answer to that question. I wonder what goes on in Prem Kumar's mind when Ram gets these question correct before I thought he was happy for him. As the more questions get answer I think Mr. Kumar gets jealous of Ram, saying things like he should take the money and run because Ram will not get the next one. If Prem Kumar tries another trick I hope Ram does not fall for it because he is so close to winning 1 billion rupees.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Q&A (pgs103-165)
Summary
Ram is starting to explain how he knew the 5th question for 50,000 rupees. Ram is a servant for an Australian family, they are christian so they prefer to call him Mr. Thomas. Besides Mrs. Taylor always saying, "Bloody Indians" they treat Mr. Thomas very nice like if he was a kid of their own. Mr. Thomas is paid good money, during his time with them he found out the Mr. Taylor was a spy and that is why he always knew the bad things that went on in his house. Mr. Thomas decided to leave the Taylor family because he earned enough money and he wanted to see Salim. The 5th question Ram knew because the Taylor family knew a lot about the foreign diplomat persona non grata, and wanted to know the meaning of that Ram answered that the diplomat is not acceptable and got correct. The host was in shocked that he answer correctly. After leaving Ram was still not able to meet Salim yet, so he ended up working as a bartender. Ram was getting tired of speaking to drunkards but when his boss demands he talk to the man who keeps weeping he starts to enjoy his story. The man's name is Prakash Rao who owns a button industry, he says he killed his brother because his wife Julie did voodoo on his brother. It got to the point where Mr. Rao would bring this voodoo doll everywhere with him and stab holes into it which caused his brother pain. His brother was sent to a mental hospital and died there, and Mr. Rao was now in control of the company. Mr. Rao was planning to divorce his wife, so she found out and Ram says Mr. Rao yelled ow and died right there. Smita does not believe the story at all and jokes about it. Ram got the 6th question correct by saying the capital of Papua New Guinea was Port Moresby. Ram is now boarding the train to head for Ghatkopar to see Salim. Ram had his suitcase and his 50 thousand rupees in his underwear, so no one would steal it. By meeting a boy named Akshay and showing him this money he had (such a stupid move) the next day a dacoits (robber) came to the people's valuable goods. When it was Ram's turn to put his stuff in the bag and when he was finish Akshay yells out he has 50 thousands rupees and the dacoits took it. Akshay's sister Meenakshi was getting sexually harass by one of the dacoits and Ram like her because he was beautiful so he shot the guy and ran off the train so he will not get arrested. The 7th question asking who invented the revolver he answer A Samuel Colt and now has 200,000 rupees, sadly he never saw her again.
Quotation
Ram is talking to Mr. Rao, and Mr. Rao says this a lot while telling his story, "Then I will tell you my story, friend. I am drunk, you know. And a drunken man always speaks the truth" (Swarup 137).
Reaction
I have heard this saying a lot when I go to family get together one of my uncles will say mostly when someone is drunk they will always tell the truth. It is always shown in movies too. When reading Mr. Rao's story I was in shock with some of the stuff he did to his brother because that is his brother he should be happy on how successful his brother is. As Mr. Rao was telling his story he would stop at one point and say this same saying, it seem as if he wanted Ram to know he was not lying about what happen to his brother or it just could of been that he wanted Ram to serve him some more scotch. It is surprising that Ram actually was interested in this story because before all he wanted to do was just leave and go home, but I also got interested in the story too because I got mad every time Mr. Rao would pause. I think Mr. Rao would say this saying a lot because Ram is probably not the first person he told this story to, and those other people would not believe him at all like Ram's lawyer Smita. I think Ram believe him because why would someone lie about something like that especially if it is their brother . The good thing that came out of this story was that Ram was able to answer the 6th question.
Ram is starting to explain how he knew the 5th question for 50,000 rupees. Ram is a servant for an Australian family, they are christian so they prefer to call him Mr. Thomas. Besides Mrs. Taylor always saying, "Bloody Indians" they treat Mr. Thomas very nice like if he was a kid of their own. Mr. Thomas is paid good money, during his time with them he found out the Mr. Taylor was a spy and that is why he always knew the bad things that went on in his house. Mr. Thomas decided to leave the Taylor family because he earned enough money and he wanted to see Salim. The 5th question Ram knew because the Taylor family knew a lot about the foreign diplomat persona non grata, and wanted to know the meaning of that Ram answered that the diplomat is not acceptable and got correct. The host was in shocked that he answer correctly. After leaving Ram was still not able to meet Salim yet, so he ended up working as a bartender. Ram was getting tired of speaking to drunkards but when his boss demands he talk to the man who keeps weeping he starts to enjoy his story. The man's name is Prakash Rao who owns a button industry, he says he killed his brother because his wife Julie did voodoo on his brother. It got to the point where Mr. Rao would bring this voodoo doll everywhere with him and stab holes into it which caused his brother pain. His brother was sent to a mental hospital and died there, and Mr. Rao was now in control of the company. Mr. Rao was planning to divorce his wife, so she found out and Ram says Mr. Rao yelled ow and died right there. Smita does not believe the story at all and jokes about it. Ram got the 6th question correct by saying the capital of Papua New Guinea was Port Moresby. Ram is now boarding the train to head for Ghatkopar to see Salim. Ram had his suitcase and his 50 thousand rupees in his underwear, so no one would steal it. By meeting a boy named Akshay and showing him this money he had (such a stupid move) the next day a dacoits (robber) came to the people's valuable goods. When it was Ram's turn to put his stuff in the bag and when he was finish Akshay yells out he has 50 thousands rupees and the dacoits took it. Akshay's sister Meenakshi was getting sexually harass by one of the dacoits and Ram like her because he was beautiful so he shot the guy and ran off the train so he will not get arrested. The 7th question asking who invented the revolver he answer A Samuel Colt and now has 200,000 rupees, sadly he never saw her again.
Quotation
Ram is talking to Mr. Rao, and Mr. Rao says this a lot while telling his story, "Then I will tell you my story, friend. I am drunk, you know. And a drunken man always speaks the truth" (Swarup 137).
Reaction
I have heard this saying a lot when I go to family get together one of my uncles will say mostly when someone is drunk they will always tell the truth. It is always shown in movies too. When reading Mr. Rao's story I was in shock with some of the stuff he did to his brother because that is his brother he should be happy on how successful his brother is. As Mr. Rao was telling his story he would stop at one point and say this same saying, it seem as if he wanted Ram to know he was not lying about what happen to his brother or it just could of been that he wanted Ram to serve him some more scotch. It is surprising that Ram actually was interested in this story because before all he wanted to do was just leave and go home, but I also got interested in the story too because I got mad every time Mr. Rao would pause. I think Mr. Rao would say this saying a lot because Ram is probably not the first person he told this story to, and those other people would not believe him at all like Ram's lawyer Smita. I think Ram believe him because why would someone lie about something like that especially if it is their brother . The good thing that came out of this story was that Ram was able to answer the 6th question.
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