Author’s friends played a vital role in rebuilding his life.
He was a fatherless boy.
His mother looked after him.
He had a chat with him and he loved her very much.
When his house caught fire, he lost everything.
He, in his new school, did not feel good.
He kept visiting his old school and teachers.
His life had become dull.
He had lost all hopes to live.
When he visited his new school the next day, he found the atmosphere strange.
His new friends provided him with all the necessary items.
They invited him to their homes.
All this contributed a lot to the author.
He lost the feeling of isolation, dejection and insecurity.
He started leading a happy life again.
Life without love is not life.
Human relationship is based on love.
The title indicates that a house is not a home without love.
The author had to face adverse circumstances in his life.
He was a fatherless boy.
He led a satisfactory life with his old friends and teachers.
But when he changed his schools, he could not adjust to the new environment.
He felt alienated.
his house caught fire, he lost all the things including his cat.
He started feeling dejected and isolated.
Life had no interest in him anymore.
He started building a new house.
But it was not home, as a house is a home only when there is love and happiness.
The author did not have any attachment to the new house.
His reunion with his cat, his new friends and
the new house made his house a home.
Zan is a schoolboy who moves from Junior school to High School.
He finds some initial problems in adjusting to life in the new school.
Unfortunately, his house gets burned down in a fire and he is in deep trouble.
But his schoolmates help him out by providing everything to him.
A neighbour also greatly increases his joy by helping him to find his lost cat.
So the narrator manages to become happy again after facing a lot of troubles.
The affection he gets from many people touched him.
He is able to get rid of his insecurity and opens up to others.
A new chapter has opened in his life.
The author loved his cat very much.
He lost his cat when his house caught fire.
He tried to find the cat but did not get her.
After a month, a woman came to him with his cat.
He could not believe it.
He grabbed his cat and started jumping.
The wonderful woman somehow handed over his cat to him.
She tried her best to find the owner of the cat.
On seeing the collar and the phone number written on it, she decided that the cat was loved and missed.
She was a good lady.
She realized the feeling of the owner of the cat.
The author called her wonderful as getting his cat back was no less than wonder for him.
Really, she did a noble deed.
People in one’s surroundings are sometimes indifferent and less co-operative.
They keep busy in their own business
but they are truly known in one’s hardship when they come forward to support whole-heartedly to the sufferer.
In the story ‘A House is not a Home’, the author felt uncomfortable in the new school
because he was not familiar with the school environment, teachers and classmates.
When he lost each and everything in the fire, he felt insecure
and in this harsh time, his schoolmates introduced themselves to him.
They all contributed and gifted his school supplies.
As everyone was aware of his plight, all the teachers knew about his hardship.
Thus the sympathy and co-operation in school comforted him.
Now his opinion changed about his new school and he started making friends.
In ‘A House Is Not a Home’,
the narrator falls into deep trouble.
His house is burned down in a fire.
He has also shifted to a rented house.
His joining in a new school also makes him feel isolated.
But very soon, all his problems came to an end.
His schoolmates contribute all the things he needs, including books and clothes.
Further, he is greatly sad about the loss of his pet cat.
A woman in the neighbourhood locates his cat and gives it to him.
The narrator feels very happy.
He feels that normalcy had been restored in his life.
Thus, people around him played a big role in making him happy again.
Two years ago, my friend Raju visited the market to buy some household things.
It was a crowded market and a shop caught fire due to short circuit.
The panic-stricken people rushed here and there.
My friend too was trying to leave that place.
He with three people got himself locked in a nearby shop to escape from the smoke.
But the shop was filled with smoke within a little span of time.
They felt suffocated by the fumes.
They considered that their end was near.
In the meantime, a team of an NGO broke open the shutter and took them out of the shop.
They were hospitalised quickly.
I could get my friend back because of the team and the grace of God.
The author had just joined a new school.
He was facing a big problem to make himself fit in the new school.
Just after a couple of days in his house caught fire.
His school bag and shoes had burnt in a fire.
The next day he went to school.
He was around school like a wanderer.
Everything appeared to him strange.
He did not know what was going to happen him.
He returned home with a broken heart.
He was experiencing terrible developments in his life.
The next day when he went to school;
he found a strange atmosphere all around.
People were getting together all around him.
They had collected money for him and
arranged school supplies and clothing for him.
This changed his vision for life once again.
asked him to do because he respected her for her value of devotion towards him.
He willingly changed school and
tried to adjust to the new environment
because he knew his mother was doing everything for his good.
She valued memories and
knew the significance of the letters and pictures of her late husband.
She risked her life to recover these things and
thus displayed the value of courage.
Her son, Zan, acknowledged this value
when he evaluated the few things that could be saved from the fire,
all because of his mother’s courage.
She possessed the value of emotional strength and
hence quickly brought back normalcy to Zan’s life by sending him to school
the next day after the fire incident.
Zan admired her because of her positive values
both as a mother and as a human being.
That is why he rushed after her to save her from the fire,
without worrying about his own safety, because he did not want to lose her at any cost.
What was stoked to keep the house nice and warm,
triggered a major fire break out that turned the author’s house to cinders
and left him and his mother devastated.
At first, the author only smelled something strange
but soon noticed smoke pouring in through the seams of the ceiling.
The smoke filled the room quickly
and he and his mother could barely see.
Somehow, they groped their way to the front door and ran out into the front yard.
No sooner had they made their way outside than
the whole roof was engulfed in flames, and the fire spread quickly.
The author ran to his neighbours to call the fire department
and his mother ran back into the house
and soon came out carrying a small metal box full of important documents.
She rushed back into the house to retrieve his husband’s pictures and letters
– the only things she had to remember him by.
The author tried to run after her but was stopped by a fireman.
The fire truck had already arrived
and was busy dousing the fire.
Some firefighters ran into the house
and safely brought out his mother
and gave her an oxygen mask because she had inhaled smoke.
It took five hours to finally put out the fire
but the house was almost completely burnt
and there was no sign of the author’s pet cat.
The author feared that she was burnt alive.
the author’s cat was brought back home
after more than a month of absence.
She had run away due to fear of fire
and could not be brought back early as
her collar had those phone numbers that had got disconnected due to the fire.
the author too was back to his normal cheerful life.
His absence was emotional unlike the physical absence of his cat.
the author says that he is also back since
he wants to point out the return of his faith in the goodness of life.
He had drifted away from joys of friendship
and comfort of familiarity on moving to a new school.
By the time his cat returned,
his gratitude for life had also returned in the company of new
friends.
After the loss of all his belongings in the fire that ravaged his house,
the narrator, started feeling depressed and embarrassed.
At this time, the friendly and helpful actions of his schoolmates changed his understanding of life
and people and comforted him emotionally.
His schoolmates took up a collection
and bought him school supplies, notebooks, and all kinds of clothes – jeans, tops, and sweats.
Those who had never spoken to him before came up to him and introduced themselves.
Many invited him to their houses.
Their genuine concern touched the author.
He felt relieved and began to believe that everything would be okay.
He stopped focussing on his feelings of insecurity
and opened up to all the wonderful people around him.
The company of his new friends and sharing joys with them
made his loneliness vanish and reconnected him to live.
The red tabby cat had been rescued by the author
when she was a helpless kitten.
She would never be far from him
and knew that he was the one responsible for giving her a good life.
He would get up early in the morning and teasingly disturb her.
She would then tag along after him, climb up his robe
and crawl into his pocket to fall asleep.
Zan loved her so much that he would allow the cat to sit over his papers
and swat at his pen while he did his homework.
He missed her terribly after losing her
and would go over to watch the clearing of debris with the hope to find her somewhere.
When she was restored back to Zan,
the cat purred as happily as the author felt elated to get her back.
Even the woman who rescued the cat knew that
she was loved and sorely missed.
His new friends in the new school and the kindness of the lady,
who returned his cat,
helped the author in getting rid of his feelings of loss and tragedy.
He regained confidence.
Now he wanted to live happily in his new home.
narrator’s house burnt down in fire.
He had lost everything in the fire and become deserted.
But he went to school the following day
and found that his friends were also worried about this incident.
They gave him many things.
Thus, the feeling of his insecurity gradually vanished
and he realised that he had many friends to decrease his problems.
He became open up to all the wonderful people around him.
When the fire broke, almost the entire house was burnt.
The author realised that the cat was nowhere to be found.
It was clear that the cat might have been injured due to fire
or run away due to fear.
His schoolmates bought him school supplies, notebooks, all kinds of different clothes
for the author to help him.
It was a matter of surprise and too difficult to believe for him.
He got emotional satisfaction.
People who had never spoken, introduced themselves one by one.
All things seemed new and got back his interest in life.
Now, he had all the things whatever he used to have.
He started enjoying his life as usual.
When the house caught fire, the narrator and his mother were in the house.
Zan’s mother ran out of the house
carrying a small metal box full of important documents.
She againran back to bring back her husband’s pictures and letters.
It was blowing cold on that Sunday afternoon.
And the author was doing homework at the dining table.
His mother was fuelling the fire at the fireplace to keep the room warm.
The author was full of remorse as he was left with nothing.
He didn’t have a proper dress and study material.
He had no backpack.
He had a feeling of insecurity.
All things appeared strange to him.
He was shocked deeply and seemed frustrated.
The words uttered by him “Was I destined to be an outcast and a geek all my life?
I didn’t want to grow up, change or have to handle life,
if it was to going to be this way.
I just wanted to curl up and die”.
These words reveal his fear and insecurity.
The author, while doing his homework, noticed
the smoke pouring in through the seams of the ceiling.
The room was filled with the smoke very quickly.
The author and his mother ran outside to save their life.
His mother ran out of the house with a small metal box full of important documents.
She became so crazy that
she rushed back to the house just after dropping the box.
In the junior school, he was the head boy of his class.
He was very close to all the teachers.
He enjoyed the seniority.
But when he joins a new school at senior level,
he faces many problems.
This school was twice as big as his old school.
He felt very isolated.
The author felt gratitude for life, his new friends, the kindness of the woman
who had rescued his cat and
certainly for the life of his beautiful cat.
This gratitude diminished his feelings of loss and tragedy.
The cat had been so freaked by the fire that
she had run away over a mile away.
A woman brings her back by locating the owners through
different sources because the phone number etched on the cat’s collar
could not be reached as it had been disconnected due to the fire.
It was different to see his house getting rebuilt
because Zan wasn’t alone this time.
Two of his new friends from school were with him.
The fire had helped him by diverting his mind away from his feelings of insecurity.
He now opened up to the wonderful people around.
The thought for the first time
that things were going to be okay made the author finally breathe a sigh of relief.
He had made friends in the new school who had a genuine concern for him.
The author says this when he gets inside the gym
to see the surprise load of school supplies and
different clothes on the big table only for him.
This seemed like Christmas because these assorted gifts were similar
to the surprise gifts that one gets from loved ones on Christmas.
The author was overcome by emotions when he got help from his schoolmates
because they had gone out of their way to bring him the things he needed.
He was touched by their genuine outpouring of concern.
The author was overcome by emotions when he got help from his schoolmates
because they had gone out of their way to bring him the things he needed.
He was touched by their genuine outpouring of concern.
The narrator went over to his burnt house even though
they had rented an apartment nearby because
he hoped that his cat would be found somewhere.
He would watch the clearing away of the debris expecting to see his cat.
the author’s mother had to borrow money from his grandparents
because her credit cards, cash and even identification
that was needed to draw money from the bank had got burnt up in the fire.
She had to rent a new place, buy new clothes for the author
and resettle quickly.
She did not have time to wait for the recovery of her lost documents till then.
All belongings except photo albums, documents and some personal items
had got burnt in the fire.
Whatever remained had got destroyed by the water
and chemicals that had been used to put out the fire.
Surreal means something strange or unreal.
The author felt that everything was surreal
because too many unfortunate things had happened to him
– his house was burnt down, his cat was lost,
his mother was left with no money and he had no books, shoes, clothes and school uniform.
His secure zone had been ripped away suddenly and
the changes were too much and too many for him to handle.
The author disliked growing up
because he felt that growing up had brought so many losses with it.
He had lost his old school, his friends, his house and most of all his dear pet cat.
The author is embarrassed because
he feels that his appearance is weird without uniform, books and a backpack.
His fear and insecurity are shown by the words:
“Was I destined to be an outcast and geek all my life?”.
After the fire incident, the author goes to school
wearing the dress that he had worn to church on Sunday morning
and the tennis shoes that he had borrowed from his aunt.
His shoes, clothes, books, homework, and backpack had been destroyed in the fire.
The author breaks down in tears
after the fire because he had lately been suffering losses.
His old school, his house and his cat – all had been lost.
The tears were an emotional outburst of a teenager
who was struggling with adjustment issues.
The author breaks down in tears
after the fire because he had lately been suffering losses.
His old school, his house and his cat – all had been lost.
The tears were an emotional outburst of a teenager
who was struggling with adjustment issues.
After five hours of a raging fire that
burnt down the author’s house almost completely,
he realised that his cat was missing.
He had not seen her all this while and
realised to his horror that she was nowhere to be found.
The author’s mother saved important documents
from the burning house by courageously rushing inside the house
that was on fire and bringing out a small metal box that
contained those documents.
She thus risked her life but eventually succeeded in her mission.
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.
One Sunday afternoon, the author smelled something strange
and noticed smoke pouring in through the seams of the ceiling of his house.
His mother reacted promptly and the two of them ran out into the front yard.
However, she ran back into the house and
brought out a small metal box full of important documents.
It was a Sunday afternoon of a cold
and windy winter when the fire broke out.
The author was at the dining-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.
The author missed his old teachers
because 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.
The author’s position during his first year of high school
as the junior/ new comer in class made him feel awkward.
The big size of the new school and
the separation from his closest friends made him feel isolated..