How did Saroo become involved with this woman?ĭISCUSSION: In what situation did you experience someone “turning on you” in an abrupt and surprising manner?.“But the ease with which the woman had turned her back on me was the same as the ease with which she had welcomed me into her house.” Why did Saroo not hesitate to go with the railway man?ĭiscussion: When did your “gut instinct” about trusting or not trusting someone or a situation turn out to be right?.How did Saroo feel among the holy men and how did they treat him?.“For the first time, I felt relatively safe.” What dangers did Saroo encounter when he began to explore a few of the surrounding streets?ĭiscussion: What areas in your neighborhood were off limits to you as a child?.What did the homeless man do to Saroo to become his “guardian angel”?.“In that moment, at five years old, I made a conscious decision to pull myself together and do my best to survive.” Why did Saroo steer clear of policemen?ĭiscussion: Did you or someone in your family ever get lost? What is your most frightening childhood memory?.Why didn’t people in the train station stop and help Saroo?.“I was just one more poor kid crying something out, too small and timid to make anyone stop and listen.”

What did his sister, Shekila, do to appease her constant hunger pangs?ĭiscussion: Were there limitations on the foods your family ate? How did your family’s meal choices compare with meals your friends or extended family ate?.How did Soroo deal with hunger as a child in India?.“I remember feeling hungry most of the time.” What episode stayed with him as an example of his mother’s courage?ĭiscussion: What are the sacrifices your mother/father made for you? What were their lives like when you were growing up?.What did Saroo’s mother do to keep the family together?.“My mother was very beautiful, slender, with long, lustrous hair-I remember her as the loveliest woman in the world.” When did he think about these memories?ĭiscussion: What is your earliest childhood memory? What is a memory of your native country you want to hold onto forever?.Why was it so important for Saroo to remember things about his Indian village and life?.“I was upset that I had forgotten the way to the school near my Indian home.”

What made the neighbors in the Indian village see Saroo as a foreigner?ĭiscussion: In what language do you think/speak most? If you speak another language, do you ever feel as if your first language is diminishing? When have you been looked upon as “a foreigner” because of the way you looked or dressed?.

|a A long way home / |c Saroo Brierley with Larry Buttrose.

Lion a long way home