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CLASS –IX ENGLISH, NCERT SOLUTIONS-MOMENT, , A House is not a Home, Answer, Page No: 54 Think About It, Answer1: One Sunday afternoon, the author noticed a strange smell. Then he saw smoke pouring in, through the seams of the ceiling and filling the room very quickly. They could barely see anything., By the time they ran out into the front yard, the roof was already engulfed in flames and was, spreading very quickly., His mother ran back into the house. She had brought out a small metal box full of important, documents. She wanted to bring out important things from the house one by one. She was in a, ‘crazed state’., Answer2: After the fire, he broke down into tears because it suddenly struck him that he was, suffering a big loss. He realized that his cat could not be seen anywhere. Then, everything hit him, at once − the new school, the &ire, and his cat. That was when he broke down and cried., Answer3: The author is deeply embarrassed the next day in school because when the fire broke out,, he was still wearing the dress he had worn to church that morning but he had no shoes as he had, lost them in the fire. So he had to borrow some tennis shoes from his aunt. He was totally, embarrassed by everything. The clothes he was wearing looked weird, he had no books or, homework, and his backpack was gone., Words used in the lesson that show his fear and insecurity are “…outcast and geek…” , “…like a, zombie.”, “…wanted to curl up and die.” , “Everything felt surreal”, “All the security…had all been, ripped away”., Answer4: The author had great affection towards his cat. He cried inconsolably when he couldn’t, find his cat after the fire. He would regularly go to the site of his house in the hope of finding the, cat. He remembered how the cat would crawl into his pocket and fall asleep and missed her, terribly., The cat was so freaked by the fire and ran a mile away from the house. One woman found her and, took her in. She located the author’s number on the cat’s collar. However, she couldn’t reach them, as the phone had been disconnected because of the fire. The woman then made personal efforts, to find the author and returned back the cat., Page No: 56, Answer5: The schoolmates showed genuine concern for the author in spite of not knowing him, well. They helped him by collecting supplies, books and clothes for him. People whom he had, never spoken to before started coming to him and befriending him. They also called him to their, houses. The author made new friends. He was overwhelmed by their love and cooperation. He, realized that his new school and new people around him were good. He stopped focusing on his, feeling of fear and insecurity and became confident that everything will be alright.