KHAITAN PUBLIC SCHOOL, SAHIBABAD

Class IX
L-8
A House is not a Home

Q.1 What happened to the narrator’s mother when she had run into the burning
house?
Answer
The author’s mother inhaled a little smoke when she ran into the burning house.
She was rescued by the firemen who put an oxygen mask on her after bringing
her out. However, she was fine soon.

Q.2 How did Zan’s mother save important documents from the burning house?
Answer
Zan’s mother saved important documents from the burning house by
courageously rushing inside the house on fire and bringing out a small metal
box that contained those documents. She thus risked her life but eventually
succeeded in her mission.

Q.3 Why did the author miss his old teachers?

Answer
The author missed his old teachers they would encourage him to get involved in
school activities so that he could meet new people. They also assured him that
he would soon adjust to his new school. Their affection, warmth, and
cooperation in making him feel special made the author miss them.

Q.4 “I knew what she was after”. Why does Zan make this observation?
Zan’s mother ran back to save the pictures and letters of his father who had died
when Zan was young. Zan knew that these memories of her husband were
extremely precious for her and she did not want them to go up in flames

Q.5 What kind of day it was when a fire broke out in the author’s house? What
were the author and his cat doing at that time?
Answer
It was Sunday afternoon of a cold and windy winter when the fire broke out.
The author was at the dinning-room table doing homework with the fire burning
in the fireplace. His red tabby cat was lying over his papers, purring loudly and
sometimes swatting at his pen.

Q.6. The cat and the author are very fond of each other. How has this been
shown in the story? Where was the cat after the fire? Who brings it back and
how?
Answer:
The cat and the author were very fond of each other. She kept sitting beside him
when he did his homework and other household work. When the author
disturbed her, she would get out of the bed, climb up his robe and crawl into his
pocket to fall asleep. He was very depressed and sad when he couldn’t find his
cat after the fire. He missed her terribly. After the fire the cat had been so
freaked that she ran a mile away from the house.

A woman found her and took her in. She tried hard to find out whose cat it was.
She located the author’s number on the cat’s collar, but she couldn’t reach him
as the phone had been disconnected due to the fire. However, she made personal
efforts to find the author.

One month later, when the author was at his house that was being rebuilt, the
woman came there with the cat and asked him if the cat belonged to him. He
hurriedly grabbed the cat from her hands and held it close and she cried into its
beautiful orange fur. The cat purred happily.

Q.7. What actions of the schoolmates change the author’s understanding of life
and people, and comfort him emotionally? How does his loneliness vanish and
how does he start participating in life?
Answer:
The author’s schoolmates showed genuine concern for his plight. They helped
him by collecting school supplies, books and clothes for him. People who had
never spoken to him before started coming to him and befriending him. They
also called him to their houses. This genuine concern touched him. This was
when his loneliness vanished. He realized that his new school and new
people around him were good. He stopped focusing on his feeling of fear and
insecurity. He breathed a sigh of relief and for the first time he felt that things
would be okay in life. He started enjoying his life as usual.