Class 12 Optional English Note || Summary of The Lost Child by Mulk Raj Anand || Fiction || Short Story

Unit 12

The Lost Child by Mulk Raj Anand

'The Lost Child', a story by Mulk Raj Anand, narrates the poignant story of a young boy who gets separated from his parents while attending a village fair in rural India. Through the eyes of a third-person narrator, the story depicts the child's innocent desires and his parents' efforts to placate him.

As the family walks towards the fair, the child is filled with joy and excitement at the thought of visiting the fair. He watches in wonder the toys in the shops and the people milling about. His parents urge him to hurry up, and he joins them for a while. However, the child soon becomes distracted by the insects and worms on the footpath and goes to investigate. His mother calls him back to the footpath, and he follows them once again.

As they approach the village, the child sees a huge crowd gathering at the fair. He becomes both frightened and fascinated. He sees a sweet meat seller's shop stacked with many coloured sweets and murmurs that he wants to have a burfi - his favourite sweet. However, he knows that his parents will call him greedy if he demands a sweet, so he does not wait for their answer. He then sees a flower-seller selling garlands of gulmohur flowers. He is very attracted to the flowers and softly murmurs that he wants one. But he knows his parents will say that the flowers look cheap, so he walks ahead.

Then, the child sees a man selling balloons of many colours, and he wants them all. However, he knows his parents will say he is too old to play with balloons, so he walks ahead. He then sees a snake charmer playing music to a snake that is coiled in a basket. The child knows that his parents will scold him for listening to such coarse music and so he walks on ahead. The child comes upon a merry-go-round, and he sees grown-ups and their children on it, laughing and having fun. He requests his parents for a turn at the merry-go-round, but he receives no reply.

As the story unfolds, the child gradually becomes separated from his parents and lost in the crowd. He panics and starts running around, crying out for his parents. He becomes overcome with fear, and his yellow turban comes off, and his clothes become dirty. Soon he exhausts and starts sobbing. He looks around for people dressed in yellow, but he cannot find his parents anywhere.

The child then runs to a shrine, walking under people's legs, sobbing for his parents. The crowd thickens near the temple's gates, and people are pushing each other. The child struggles to get ahead and shrieks for his parents. A kind stranger notices him and takes him away from the crowd. The man asks him who he is and how he came to be there. The child cries even more bitterly and weeps for his mother and father.

To soothe the crying child, the man offers him to ride the merry-go-round, but the child says that he just wants his parents back. The man takes him to the snake charmer and tells him to listen to the music, but the child puts his hands over his ears and cries even louder. He keeps saying that he wants his parents. The man offers to buy him a multi-coloured balloon from the balloon seller, but the child turns his eyes away from the balloons and asks for his parents. The man then takes him to the flower-seller and asks if he would like to wear a garland of fragrant flowers, but the child turns his nose away and continues sobbing for his mother and father. Lastly, the sweet-seller, hoping to console him with a sweet, asks him to choose a sweet, but the child continues to sob. Despite the stranger's efforts to make him happy, the child continues to cry for his parents.