Poverty and survival are central to Saroo’s memoir. Saroo describes being raised by an impoverished single mother in India until the age of five. The family initially shared a house with another Indian family, but later moved to a smaller house in Khandwa’s Muslim neighborhood. The new house lacked electricity and running water. The family shared a single room and slept on a dirt floor alongside vermin that entered through cracks in the walls. The family was so impoverished that neighbors ostracized them, exacerbating Saroo’s isolation as a Hindu living among Muslims.

Saroo’s mother and older brothers worked odd jobs to support the family. Kamla cleared construction sites six days per week, carrying heavy rocks on her head for a daily wage of $1.30. Kamla also rode the trains to neighboring towns in search of work, as did Guddu and Kallu, which left Saroo alone to care for his infant sister. Poverty resulted in child exploitation and neglect. Indeed, Guddu was once jailed for breaking child labor laws, while Saroo became one-year-old Shekila’s full-time caretaker at the age of four. Despite his youth, Saroo contributed to the family’s income by taking odd jobs. On one occasion, a local merchant paid him to transport 10 large watermelons to the town market.