The Lost Child: Chapter 1, Book 2

General Overview

• Story is titled "The Lost Child"
• The chapter is chapter one of book two.
• Story is and a supplementary reader.
• Concerns a child who gets lost at a fair.
• Initial part features the child desiring toys, sweets, and a roundabout ride.
• Child becomes separated from the parents.
• A stranger attempts to console the child by offering the things previously desired.
• The child declines these offers, wanting only the parents.
• Highlights parental love and affection and the parent-child bond.
• The author is Mulk Raj Anand.

Details of Child's Journey

• The narrative is set in the season of spring, following the winter months.
• People are eager to leave their homes and enjoy the pleasant weather.
• Various modes of transport: walking, riding horses, and bullock carts.
• Child is drawn to the toys in one shop, but realizes child's parents would likely not buy them.
• Parents draw attention away by indicating at the bright yellow mustard fields.
• Mustard fields likened to melting gold.
• The child sees dragonflies and attempts to catch them but are unsuccessful.

Other Attractions

• The child is captivated by a grove with falling flower petals and the parents ask the child to come join them.
• Child hears doves and runs towards them, gathering petals, but the parents warn to not step on snakes or scorpions and ask the child to come back.
• Enters a village fair with a large crowd, the child experiencing excitement and attraction.
• Arrives at a sweet shop displaying sweets like "gulab jamun", "rasgulla", and "burfi", all embellished with gold and silver.
• "Burfi" is the child's favorite, tempting the child, also aware that the parents would refuse due to greediness.
• A flower seller offers garlands of Gulmohar.
• The child moves past, knowing the parents would consider it cheap and unnecessary.
• The child notices a man holding a pole with colorful, rainbow-like balloons.
• Concludes that the parents would refuse the balloons, thinking that the child is too old.
• Riveted by a snake charmer playing a flute, the snake's listening is compared to gentle ripples on an invisible waterfall.
• Child knows parents disapprove, despite fascination with the music.
• Sees a roundabout filled with people enjoying the ride.
• The child wants to get in, but expresses with hesitancy.

Losing Track of his Parents

• The child turns to ask the parents about the roundabout, and realizes they are not there.
• Begins running in different directions, calling for the parents.
• Becomes distressed in the search; tears stream down face.
• The child's turban comes undone, and the clothes get soiled.
• The child becomes exhausted from searching and is unable to find the parents.
• The child's efforts to find the parents among the crowd near a temple are in vain.

Meeting a Stranger and Refusing the Former Desires

• A stranger lifts the child and asks how the child got there and about the parents.
• The child is overwhelmed with fear, only cries, "I want my father, I want my mother".
• The stranger attempts to calm the child by offering a ride on the roundabout, which the child declines.
• The stranger attempts next to draw interest to the snake charmer and the music, but the child closes ears, only chanting, "I want my father, I want my mother".
• Offers a balloon from the balloon seller, but the child refuses.
• The child likewise refuses a garland offered.
• The child is taken to the sweet shop, and cannot say anything other than the desire to find parents.
• The narrative concludes with the stranger helping the child.
• The child values the parents above all.

Story is about a child lost at a fair. Separated from parents, the child declines comforting offers from a stranger, desiring only parents. Narrated by Mulk Raj Anand.