SUP.UNIT - 1 - The Lost Child ENGLISH - SUP.UNIT - 1 - The Lost Child

What do you think happens in the end? Does the child find his parents?

Why does the lost child lose interest in the things that he had wanted earlier?

When does he realize that he has lost his way? How have his anxiety and insecurity been described?

In the fair, he wants many things. What are they? Why does he move on without waiting for an answer?

What are the things the child sees on his way to the fair? Why does he lag behind?

The man, still trying to make the child happy, bore him to the gate where the flower-seller sat. "Look! Can you smell those nice flowers, child! Would you like a garland to put round your neck?"
The child turned his nose away from the basket and reiterated his sob, "I want my mother, I want my father!"
Thinking to humour his disconsolate charge by a gift of sweets, the man took him to the counter of the sweet shop. "What sweets would you like, child?" he asked. The child turned his face from the sweet shop and only sobbed, "I want my mother, I want my father!"
Question:
Q.1. Why does the child refuse the offerings of flowers and sweets from the man?
Q.2. How does the man's strategy change as he tries to console the child throughout the paragraph?

The man headed towards the place where the snake-charmer still played on the flute to the swaying cobra. "Listen to that nice music, child!" he pleaded. But the child shut his ears with his fingers and shouted his double-pitched strain: "I want my mother, I want my father!" The man took him near the balloons, thinking the bright colours of the balloons would distract the child's attention and quieten him. "Would you like a rainbow- coloured balloon?" he persuasively asked. The child turned his eyes from the flying balloons and just sobbed, "I want my mother, I want my father!"
Question :
Q.1. Why does the child shut his ears and shout when the man pleads with him to listen to the snake-charmer's music?
Q.2. How does the child respond to the man's attempt to distract him with balloons?

"How did you get here, child? Whose baby are you?" the man asked as he steered clear of the mass. The child wept more bitterly than ever now and only cried, "I want my mother, I want my father!"
The man tried to soothe him by taking him to the roundabout. "Will you have a ride on the horse?" he gently asked as he approached the ring. The child's throat tore into a thousand shrill sobs and he only shouted, "I want my mother, I want my father!"
Question :
Q.1. What did the man ask the child as he tried to comfort him?
Q.2. How did the child respond when the man offered to take him for a ride on the horse at the roundabout?

He ran quickly again, this time to a shrine to which people seemed to be crowding. Every little inch of space here was congested with men, but he ran through people's legs, his little sob lingering: "Mother, Father!" Near the entrance to the temple, however, the crowd became very thick: men jostled each other, heavy men, with flashing, murderous eyes and hefty shoulders. The poor child struggled to thrust a way between their feet but, knocked to and fro by their brutal movements, he might have been trampled underfoot, had he not shrieked at the highest pitch of his voice, "Father, Mother!" A man in the surging crowd heard his cry and, stooping with great difficulty, lifted him up in his arms.
Question :
Q.1. Why did the child run towards the shrine?
Q.2. How did the child avoid being trampled underfoot in the thick crowd near the temple entrance?

Having run to and fro in a rage of running for a while, he stood defeated, his cries suppressed into sobs. At little distances on the green grass he could see, through his filmy eyes, men and women talking. He tried to look intently among the patches of bright yellow clothes, but there was no sign of his father and mother among these people, who seemed to laugh and talk just for the sake of laughing and talking.
Question :"
Q.1. How did the child's frantic search for his parents eventually end?
Q.2. How did the people appear to the child as he looked for his parents?

“Will you have a ride on the horse?” he gently asked as he approached the ring. The child’s throat tore into a thousand shrill sobs and he only shouted, “I want my mother, I want my father!”
Questions:
Q.1. Who is “he” in the first line of the extract?
Q.2. Why does “he” offer the child a ride?
Q.3. Why did the child cry?

He ran quickly again, this time to a shrine to which people seemed to be crowding. Every little inch of space here was congested with men, but he ran through people’s legs, his little sob lingering: “Mother, Father!” Near the entrance to the temple, however, the crowd became very thick: men jostled each other, heavy men, with flashing, murderous eyes and hefty shoulders. The poor child struggled to thrust a way between their feet but, knocked to and fro by their brutal movements, he might have been trampled underfoot, had he not shrieked at the highest pitch of his voice, “Father, Mother!” A man in the surging crowd heard his cry and, stooping with great difficulty, lifted him up in his arms.
Questions:
Q.1. Who was the child looking for?
Q.2. Elaborate the child’s sufferings.
Q.3. Who saved the child from the chaos of the crowd?

There was a roundabout in full swing. Men, women and children, carried away in a whirling motion, shrieked and cried with dizzy laughter. The child watched them intently and then he made a bold request: “I want to go on the roundabout, please, Father, Mother.” There was no reply. He turned to look at his parents. They were not there, ahead of him. He turned to look on either side. They were not there. He looked behind. There was no sign of them.
Questions:
Q.1. What happened to the child?
Q.2. Who does the “THEY” refer to in the last lines of the extract?
Q.3. Where did the child lose his parents?

A sweetmeat seller hawked, “gulab-jaman, rasagulla, burfi, jalebi,” at the corner of the entrance and a crowd pressed round his counter at the foot of an architecture of many coloured sweets, decorated with leaves of silver and gold. The child stared open eyed and his mouth watered for the burfi that was his favourite sweet. “I want that burfi,” he slowly murmured. But he half knew as he begged that his plea would not be heeded because his parents would say he was greedy. So without waiting for an answer he moved on.
Questions:
Q.1. What did the child ask for?
Q.2. How did the child know that his plea would not be heard?
Q.3. What do you understand by “mouth watered”?

It was the festival of spring. From the wintry shades of narrow lanes and alleys emerged a gaily clad humanity. Some walked, some rode on horses, others sat, being carried in bamboo and bullock carts. One little boy ran between his father’s legs, brimming over with life and laughter. “Come, child, come,” called his parents, as he lagged behind, fascinated by the toys in the shops that lined the way. He hurried towards his parents, his feet obedient to their call, his eyes still lingering on the receding toys. As he came to where they had stopped to wait for him, he could not suppress the desire of his heart, even though he well knew the old, cold stare of refusal in their eyes.
Questions:
Q.1. Name the chapter from where this extract has been taken.
Q.2. Who is the author of the chapter?
Q.3. What fascinates the child in the fair?