Born Behind Bars: Chapters 1–25

by Padma Venkatraman
After spending the first nine years of his life in prison with his mother, Kabir learns to survive on the streets of Chennai, India, while looking for a way to prove his mother's innocence. 

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–25, Chapters 26–39, Chapters 40–70
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. prod
    poke or thrust abruptly
    Everyone in our cell is awake now except Mouse Girl, the newcomer. She manages to sleep through the morning racket—until Grandma Knife's big toe prods her, making her yelp.
  2. glare
    look at with a fixed or angry gaze
    Mouse Girl tugs on my raggedy T-shirt to hold me back as she elbows her way ahead. My T-shirt rips even more. I glare at her, but she doesn't apologize, and now I'm sure I picked a bad nickname for her.
  3. stench
    a distinctive odor that is offensively unpleasant
    The stench of the toilets is as strong as a slap in the face, but I try concentrating on the one good thing about the toilet: It's the only place I can actually be completely alone.
  4. sari
    a draped dress worn primarily by Hindu women
    Quickly, his mother, whose demon brother had imprisoned her and her husband, ripped a piece of her sari and swaddled the baby in it.
  5. swaddle
    wrap very tightly in cloth, as a baby
    Quickly, his mother, whose demon brother had imprisoned her and her husband, ripped a piece of her sari and swaddled the baby in it.
  6. blurt
    utter impulsively
    Mouse Girl pushes her lips up in a pout. Then she blurts out the question Amma told me I should never, ever ask. "Why're you in jail?"
  7. lull
    make calm or still
    My singing lulls Aunty Cloud, Grandma Knife, and even Mouse Girl to sleep.
  8. mosque
    a Muslim place of worship that usually has a minaret
    Amma saved the letters Appa sent her from Bengaluru. One of them has a picture he drew of the mosque where he worshipped.
  9. pester
    annoy persistently
    When I grew older and realized you could send letters all over the world, I used to pester Amma, asking, "Why d'you think Appa doesn't write anymore?"
  10. wispy
    thin and weak
    The only visitors the rest of us get are insects. Cockroaches who sometimes land on us in the middle of the night. Spiders who spin webs, wispy as clouds, which I think are pretty, though the grown-ups disagree.
  11. snicker
    laugh quietly
    "Except you don't smell as good as a flower. In fact, you stink," Shyam, the new class bully, told her, and his friend Srikant snickered.
  12. savor
    taste appreciatively
    My eyes are closed, savoring each bite of sugary gold.
  13. cackle
    emit a loud, unpleasant kind of laughing
    "Boy!" Grandma Knife cackles. "You think if you commit a crime, the police give you a choice where to go? You think they'll send you back into your mother's arms?"
  14. lash out
    attack, especially in speech or writing
    "Who says I'm sad?" Malli lashes out. "I'm happy you're leaving. I hate you!"
  15. scowl
    frown with displeasure
    Mouse Girl scowls. It irritates her that Amma and I can chat in a language she doesn't understand, though Amma's told her we're not saying anything about her.
  16. rubbish
    worthless material that is to be disposed of
    The policeman leads me across a yard where flies swarm over a rubbish heap.
  17. lurch
    move haltingly and unsteadily
    The van's walls and floor shudder and jerk as if it's alive, and to my shock, as it lurches forward, my body slides around.
  18. churn
    be agitated
    We dart in and out between cars, trucks, and buses, like I've seen on TV. Except they're not flat. Out here, they're bigger than me, growling on the roads like monsters with huge eyes. My stomach churns.
  19. glint
    be shiny, as if wet
    Sunlight glints off the huge glass windows, and bright flowers dot the gardens. So this is the house where my parents met and fell in love. It's even prettier than I imagined.
  20. grime
    thick or ingrained dirt
    Through an open door at the back of the house, I see a kitchen. The tile floor is so clean it sparkles—the opposite of the jail kitchen, which had a two-fingers-thick layer of grime.
  21. yammer
    speak loudly and continuously
    It's not easy to nap, though my head is tired from all the noise not just in this outside world, but also inside me, where my heart is yammering with fear and confusion.
  22. dingy
    thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot
    We enter a small, dingy room where a man is lighting a bidi, smoke snaking out of his lips.
  23. flimsy
    lacking solidity or strength
    He pulls the flimsy door half shut behind me. I sit on the floor of the grimy kitchen, where I can still hear everything the men say, since they aren't bothering to speak that softly.
  24. haggle
    wrangle, as over a price or terms of an agreement
    They begin haggling over a price like I've seen the women in jail do when someone has been able to smuggle in a thing from outside that everyone else wants.
  25. bittersweet
    having a taste that is a mixture of bitterness and sweetness
    When the waiter puts a cup of frothy coffee on the counter, Fake Uncle lets go of me. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath of the bittersweet scent.
Created on Wed Jan 26 16:21:35 EST 2022 (updated Fri Feb 04 09:46:45 EST 2022)

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