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The Lost Child Explanation, Line by Line, Meaning of Difficult Words, English CBSE Class 9 NCERT Moments Chapter 1

THE LOST CHILD

(Explanation, Meaning of difficult words)

Author – Mulk Raj Anand

Word Meaning
Wintry Of winter season, Cold, Chilly
Lanes Narrow roads
Alleys Narrow pathways
Emerged Appeared
Gaily Happily
Clad Wearing, Attired
Humanity Crowd

It was season of spring and a day of festival. The weather was cold. Several people were walking on roads and pathways. They all looked happy. They were wearing good clothes.

 

Word Meaning
Brimming over Full of, To exhibit, To a great extent

Some people were walking. Some were riding on horses. Some were being carried in platforms made by bamboos. Some were travelling in bullock carts. Author wants to say that almost everybody of the town had come out of their houses. A person was walking with his little son. Father was walking while the boy had to run to keep pace with his father. Height of the boy was less than the height of legs of his father. They boy looked very happy.

 

 

Word Meaning
Lagged behind Remained behind, Did not maintain pace
Fascinated Impressed, Attracted
Shops that lined the way Shops along the way

They boy was highly impressed and attracted to toys placed in the shops. His parents had to repeatedly ask him to move forward.

 

 

Word Meaning
Hurried Walked quickly
Lingering on Remaining, Continued to see
Receding Going behind

The boy obediently and quickly walked towards his parents. But he was still looking at the toys in a shop that had gone behind.

 

 

Word Meaning
Suppress Control
Stare Gaze
Cold stare Unemotional gaze

The boy came running to his parents. They had stopped for a while to wait for him. He could not control his desire to purchase that toy. Although he was aware that his parents will refuse to buy.

 

 

Word Meaning
Pleaded Requested earnestly
Familiar Known, Normal
Tyrant Dictator
Melted by Became soft natured
Tender Soft, Kind, Mild

The boy requested that he wanted to buy that toy. His father looked at him with his red eyes. Father normally behaved like a dictator. His mother was a bit soft because it was a day of festival. She was kind to him. She asked him to hold her finger and advised him to look ahead. She did not want him to look towards shops.

 

 

Word Meaning
Swept across Spread across
Even land Plane land, Not uneven land

In the fields yellow flowers had grown on crop of mustard. It looked as if gold has been melted and poured on a large area. The area of field was fairly plane. It did not have much undulations or slope.

 

 

Word Meaning
Dragon fly Type of insect
Bustling about Moving
Gaudy Of dark colour
Intercepting Crossing

A group of dragon-flies was moving around. Their wings were of dark purple colour. Many times they crossed the path of a bee or a butterfly. Bees and butterflies had come to the field in search of sweetness of flowers.

 

 

Word Meaning
Fluttering Sound produced by movement of wings
Flapping Moving the wings

The child looked at dragon-flies while they were flying in air. He continued to follow these till one of them sat somewhere. Then he tried to catch it. But he could not catch any. These would again move into the air before being caught. Probably he moved on the road while trying to catch a dragonfly. So his mother advised him to walk on footpath only.

 

 

Word Meaning
Abreast of Ahead of
For a while For a short time
Teeming out Coming out in groups

He happily ran towards his parents. For a short period of time he walked ahead of them. But very soon he was once again behind them. This time he was attracted by insects and worms. These were coming out in large groups from their place of hiding. Probably they also wanted to enjoy the good sunshine of the day.

 

 

Word Meaning
Grove A small group of trees

His parents sat in the shade of a small group of trees. There was a well in the shade. They were sitting on the edge of a well. They called their son to come to them. He came running.

 

 

Word Meaning
Young flowers Small flowers, New flowers
Gather Collect
Petals Leaves of flowers

When the child came in the shade of grove, many small flowers fell on him. He forgot about presence of his parents. He started collecting petals falling from trees in his hands.

 

 

Word Meaning
Cooing of dove Voice of dove

Now he heard the voice of a dove. He was very excited to hear the voice. He ran towards his parent shouting ‘The Dove’. He forgot that he had collected petals in his hands. So all the petals fell on the ground.

 

 

Word Meaning
Wild capers Flowers growing in a jungle
Winding footpath Footpath with many curves and bends

Now the child had gone behind a banyan tree. Several wild flowers had grown there. Parent called the child. Together they started walking on narrow curved footpath. That footpath was leading through the fields of mustard to the site of fair.

 

 

Word Meaning
Neared Came near
Throngs Crowd
Converging Meeting
Whirlpool Huge movement
Repelled Distracted, Afraid

When they reached closer to the village of the fair, the child saw many footpaths leading to the fair. Each footpath was full of crowd moving towards fair. It was huge movement of people. The child was afraid. He was also attracted towards such a big gathering of people. Because of the large crowd there could be many confusions in the fair.

 

 

Word Meaning
Sweetmeat seller One who sells sweets
Hawked Shouted
A crowd pressed round his counter Crowd gathered at his counter

A seller of sweets was shouting names of various sweets available at his shop. This shop was at the corner near the entrance of the fair. A big crowd had already gathered in front of his shop. He had nicely arranged sweets at his counter. These sweets were decorated with leaves of golden and silver colour.

 

 

Word Meaning
Openeyed Without closing eyelids
Murmured Whispered, Spoke in low voice
Half knew Almost sure
Plea Request
Would not be heeded Would not be accepted
Heed To accept

The child looked at burfi without closing his eyelids. It was his favourite sweet. He slowly whispered that he wanted to eat burfi. But he was almost sure that his request will not be accepted. His parent would tell that he was greedy. So he did not wait for an answer from his parents. He kept on moving.

 

 

Word Meaning
Irresistibly Without any control
Drawn Attracted
Well knew Knew for sure
Cheap Not good

A seller of flowers was shouting to sell gulmohur flowers and garlands made of these flowers. The child could not control himself and he was attracted to the shop. He went towards the basket where flowers were kept. He softly said that he wanted to buy that garland. He was sure that his parent would not buy it for him. They would say that it was not a good garland. He did not wait for any answer from his parents. He kept walking.

 

 

Word Meaning
Carried away Got attracted, Became happy,
Overwhelming Immense, Huge,
Posses To own

A man was holding a pole and standing near it. Balloons of various colours were tied on the pole. These looked like a rainbow. The child was fully attracted towards balloons. He had a huge desire to buy all the balloons.

 

 

Word Meaning
Too old to play Not of the age to play with balloons
Farther Greater distance

But he was sure that his parent would not buy these for him. They would say that he was now a grown up child. He should not play with balloons. So he continued to walk away from balloons.

 

 

Word Meaning
Snake charmer Person who makes snake move on the music
Coiled Bent in the shape of circle
Graceful Stylish,
Swan A bird with long neck
Stole into Entered into
Invisible That cannot be seen
Gentle Soft, Moderate, Kind
Rippling Movement of water in the pattern of wave

A snake charmer was playing a flute. In the basket a snake was sitting in shape of a circle. It had raised its head in the style of the neck of a swan. It appeared that the music was entering into its invisible ears. The music was like the sound of water in a waterfall.

 

 

 

Word Meaning
Forbidden Prohibited, Not permitted
Coarse Harsh
Proceeded Went

The child started moving towards the snake charmer. He was aware that his parents had not given the permission to hear such harsh music played by snake charmer. So he went ahead with his parents.

 

 

Word Meaning
Roundabout A swing that moves in circular motion
Whirling Circular
Shrieked Shouted loudly
Dizzy Very high, Loud

There was a swing that was moving in circular fashion. Many kids, men and women were riding that swing. They moved in a fast circular motion. They shouted and laughed loudly.

 

 

Word Meaning
Intently Carefully
Bold Courageous

The child carefully looked at them. Then he made a courageous request to his parents. He wanted to ride that roundabout.

 

 

Word Meaning
No sign of them They were not seen, They were not there

The child did not receive any reply from his parents. His parent were not ahead of him. He looked back and to his sides. He did not see his parents.

 

 

Word Meaning
Rolled down Started coming down
Fierce Causing fear
Flushed Became red
Convulsed Distorted, Shaking

He was now afraid, his throat became dry. He started crying loudly. Suddenly he started running. He was crying because of fear. He was shouting for his mother and father. Hot tears started coming down from his eyes because of fear. His face became red. Since he was crying, his face looked distorted. It was also shaking.

 

 

Word Meaning
Panic Fear
Panic-stricken Very afraid, Very frightened
Hither and thither Here and there, In various directions
Wailed Cried loudly
Muddy Dirty

He was very afraid. he ran to one side. Then he started running in various directions. He did not know in which direction he should go. She started shouting for his parents. He cried loudly. His yellow turban opened. His clothes became dirty.

 

 

Word Meaning
To and fro Constantly moving forward and backward
Rage Violent, Without any thoughts
Suppressed Changed by force, Restricted
Sobs Crying with sighs
Filmy Covered with something

He run in all directions and every time he came back to his original position. He could not find his parents. He accepted his defeat. His cries now converted into sobs. At a small distance there was green grass on the ground. Through his eyes covered by tears, he saw that some men and women were talking to each other.

 

 

Word Meaning
Patches Shades
For the sake of For the purpose of

He tried to carefully look at the patches of bright yellow clothes. He was trying to identify and locate his parents in the crowd. But he could not see his parents. Those people appeared to be laughing and talking for the only purpose of laughing and talking. Meaning that they were laughing without any reason.

 

 

Word Meaning
Shrine Place of worship
Crowding Gathering
Congested Over crowded
Lingering Continued

He again quickly ran to a place of worship. Lot of people were there. Every space there was overcrowded with people. He ran between legs of people. His height was small. He was sobbing and continued to shout for his parents.

 

 

Word Meaning
Crowd became very thick Lot of overcrowding
Jostled Pushed
Flashing Shining
Murderous Angry
Hefty Strong, Big

Near entrance to the temple, there were so many people. It was really overcrowded. People pushed each other. They were really big people. Their eyes were shining and they looked angry. They were really strong people. Meaning that he found difficult to move through the crowd.

 

 

Word Meaning
Poor child Helpless child
Thrust Push
Brutal Violent, Cruel
Trampled Crushed under feet
Highest pitch Loudest voice, At top of voice

The helpless child was struggling to push himself through legs of people. But he fell down because of movement of people. People might have crushed him under their feet. But he shouted in loudest voice for his parents.

 

 

Word Meaning
Surging Increasing, Moving ahead
Stooping Bending low

In the crowd that was increasing, a man heard cries of the child. With great difficulty, he bent low and lifted the child in his arms.

 

 

Word Meaning
Steered Moved
Mass Crowd
Bitterly At higher intensity

The man moved away from the crowd. The man asked him how he came there. Who are your parents? The child started crying more loudly. The only thing he said was that he wanted to meet his parents.

 

 

Word Meaning
Soothe Assure him, Give comfort
Shrill Loud high pitched voice

The man tried to give him comfort by taking him to the roundabout. The man asked the child if he would like to have a ride on the horse of the roundabout. The child again started sobbing loudly. He shouted that he wanted to meet his parents.

 

 

Word Meaning
Swaying Moving sideways

The man now came to the place where snake charmer was sitting. He was still playing his flute and the cobra snake was moving sideways. The man requested the kid to listen to the music. The child shut his ears with his fingers. He shouted very loudly, almost twice high, that he wanted to meet his parents.

 

 

Word Meaning
Distract Divert
Quieten To calm
Persuasively Persuading, In requesting mode

The man took the child to the place where balloons were being sold. He thought that attractive colours of balloons would divert attention of the child. So he may become calm. But the child turned his eyes from balloons. He continued to cry and told that he wanted to meet his parents.

 

 

Word Meaning
Bore him Moved him, Took him
Reiterated Once again

The man still wanted to make the child happy. He took the child to the gate where flowers were being sold. The man told him that smell of those flowers was nice. The man asked the child if he wanted to put a garland around his neck. The child turned away from the basket of flowers. He again started crying. He said that he wanted to meet his parents.

 

 

Word Meaning
Humour To make happy
Disconsolate Unhappy

The man thought that a gift of sweets will make the unhappy child happy. So he took the child to the sweet shop. The man asked what sweets he would like to eat. The child did not look at sweets. He continued to sob. He told that he wanted to meet his parents.

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8 Comments

Cinderella · June 30, 2021 at 2:21 am

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Garima · July 9, 2021 at 4:30 pm

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Harry Potter · September 12, 2021 at 1:45 pm

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Sarbeswar Pradhan · October 26, 2022 at 12:14 pm

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Mohammad Anzar · February 15, 2023 at 2:43 pm

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Some_Strange_Random_Boy · May 22, 2023 at 3:18 pm

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