The Lost Spring Summary

Summary of the Lesson “the Lost Spring – Stories of stolen

Childhood” – The author tells us stories of her interactions with
children from deprived backgrounds. She describes their poor
condition and life in an interesting manner. The story touches the
reader and is thought-provoking.
The author described two of her encounters with children from
deprived backgrounds. Through them she wants to highlight the plight
of street children forced into labour early in life and are denied the
opportunity of schooling. Also, she brings out the callousness of
society and the political class towards the sufferings of the poor. The
first encounter is with a rag picker boy named Saheb – E – Alam who
migrated from Bangladesh in 1971 and lives in Seemapuri in Delhi.
These ragpicker children look for ‘valuables’ in the garbage – things
like a coin or torn shoes which are as precious as ‘gold’ for them.
They could hardly manage some food for themselves, other things
like identity, education, shoes and sports are their unfulfilled dreams.
Their parents scrounged the garbage searching for things that helped
them survive – afford food, clothing and shelter for the family. The
children hunted through the garbage heaps looking for things which
could partially fulfil their unfulfilled dreams.
One day the writer saw the boy, holding a steel can, going towards the
milk booth. He had got a job at a tea stall. He was happy that he
would get eight hundred rupees and all the meals. The writer noticed
that Saheb had lost the freedom of being his own master which he had
enjoyed as a rag picker.
The second boy was Mukesh who belonged to a family of bangle
makers in Firozabad. The boy had a dream of becoming a car
mechanic. On the contrary, his family was traditionally engaged in
bangle making, although the profession harmed them physically and
they hardly earned any money out of it.
Still, no one dared to dream of doing something else due to the fear of
the police and the middlemen. The family elders were content that
other than teaching the art of bangle–making to their children, they
had been able to build them a house to live in. The boy wanted to be a
car mechanic. Cars were all that Mukesh had seen on the roads of his
town and so, he could not dream any further.

Theme of the Lesson

The sad position of poor children who are forced to have a wretched
life and forgo the fun times of childhood due to their social
circumstances is the subject of the story “Lost Spring.” These children
are compelled to labour from an early age and are not given the
opportunity to pursue an education. Anees Jung, the writer, makes a
concerted effort to end child labour. She advocates for government
enforcement of strict laws prohibiting child work as well as enforce
the education of children. The word was spread so that child
exploitation might be stopped and all children could enjoy their
happy, springtime days. She talks about her encounter with a slum
dweller kid named Saheb-e-Alam who is a ragpicker and wishes to
play tennis and go to a school. However, these wishes remain
unfulfilled. Another boy named Mukesh hails from a family of bangle
makers from Firozabad. Their lives are miserable because the
profession does not provide a good livelihood and harms them
physically too. The boy dreams to do something different but his
dreams are restricted to the life that he has seen in his hometown. He
aspires to become a car mechanic.

Lost Spring Question Answers

Think as you read
1. What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he
and where has he come from?
A. Saheb is looking for any precious thing which he cannot afford to
buy. Things like a rupee, silver coin or a pair of shoes. He has come
to the garbage dump in the writer’s neighborhood. He lives in
Seemapuri in Delhi and has come from Dhaka.
2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not
wearing footwear?
A. The author says that they do not wear footwear because it is a
tradition in their families to remain barefoot.
3. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain.
A. Saheb is happy that he has got work at the tea stall. He will get
eight hundred rupees every month and his meals too.
4. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
A. Firozabad is famous for glass blowing industry.
5. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
A. People who work in the glass bangle industry lose their eyesight.
6. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of
his family?
A. Mukesh dares to dream and has a way out of his situation. He
aspires to become a motor mechanic. On the other hand, his family
does not dare to dream. They are too tired and scared to do something
to come out of their grim situation.
Understanding the text
Q1. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of
people from villages to cities?
A. People migrate from villages to cities in search of a better life.
They want to earn money so that they can lead a good life and rear
their children in a better way. As cities have more opportunities for
work, this makes them migrate from the villages to these big cities.
Q2. Would you agree that promises made to poor children are
rarely kept? Why do you think this happens in the incidents
narrated in the text?
A. Yes, I agree that the promises made to poor children are rarely
fulfilled. In the story the writer jokingly offers the rag picker boy to
join a school that she would open. In fact, she does not intend to open
a school. She speaks mindlessly but the boy takes it to be true and
later asks her if the school has opened. There are many such hollow
promises in the boy’s life because the person who makes the promise
never intends to fulfil it.
Q3. What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle
industry of Firozabad in poverty?
A. The writer tells us that the bangle – makers of Firozabad are
poverty – stricken. They are burdened by the fact of the particular
caste in which they are born – bangle – makers. They have to
continue the traditional profession. Further, the society has formed a
harsh circle around them. The money – lenders, middlemen,
policemen, law – keepers, officers and politicians altogether form a
barrier around them and tie them in the grip of poverty. They cannot
escape from it.
Q4. How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream?
A. Mukesh dared to dream and wanted to become a motor mechanic.
He wanted to drive cars too. He took the initial step by aspiring to do
something different from the family business. I think that Mukesh can
realize his dream with determination and hard work.
Q5. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
A. The poor bangle makers in Firozabad work in dangerous
conditions. The furnaces have very high temperatures and no
ventilation. Hence, they are prone to ailments like lung cancer. While
polishing the bangles, the dust harms their eyes and many lose their
vision. They remain in dark for long hours and so are unable to see
during the daytime.
Q6. Why should child labour be eliminated and how?
A. Forcing a child to work is a crime. This is so in order to prevent
exploitation of children. If forced to work, Children cannot enjoy their
childhood. They cannot get proper education. Also, when they are
forced into hazardous works, they get ailments at a young age. This
destroys their future. Their parents overlook all these facts as they
need money. So, the government has to become proactive and take
measures to check child labour and enforce the law strictly.
This Page includes Notes of the Chapter The Lost Spring
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Lost Spring Extract based questions

1. “Why do you do this?” I ask Saheb whom I encounter every
morning scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps of my
neighbourhood. Saheb left his home long ago. Set amidst the green
fields of Dhaka, his home is not even a distant memory. There were
many storms that swept away their fields and homes, his mother tells
him. That’s why they left, looking for gold in the big city where he
now lives.
1. What is the boy doing?
a. Cleaning utensils
b. Sifting through the garbage
c. making tea
d. Playing with friends
A. b
2. ‘Gold’ is which figure of speech?
a. Rhyme
b. Imagery
c. metaphor
d. Pun
A. c
3. Find a synonym of ‘in the middle of’
A. amidst
4. Which ‘big city’ do they live in?
a. Dhaka
b. Delhi
c. Mumbai
d. Kolkata
A. b
2. “Go to school,” I say glibly, realising immediately how hollow the
advice must sound.
“There is no school in my neighbourhood. When they build one, I will
go.”
“If I start a school, will you come?” I ask, half-joking. “Yes,” he says,
smiling broadly.
A few days later I see him running up to me. “Is your school ready?”
“It takes longer to build a school,” I say, embarrassed at having made
a promise that was not meant. But promises like mine abound in every
corner of his bleak world.
1. What does glibly mean?
a. Spoken confidently but without careful thought
b. Done with confidence and careful thought
c. spoken in a serious manner
d. Careless attitude
A. a
2. A few days later I see him running up to me. “Is your school
ready?”
This shows
a. The boy wants to go to school
b. The boy is showing her down
c. the boy does not want to work and wants to escape to a school
d. The boy likes her
A. a
3. Why is the narrator embarrassed?
A. She is embarrassed because she made a false promise. She did not
intend to open a school but the boy took her seriously.
4. Why does she say that promises like mine abound in every corner
of his bleak world?
A. The poor boy’s life is full of sadness. He sees many things around
him which are like the writer’s promise but he never gets anything. So
his life is not encouraging and it is full of false promises.
3. My acquaintance with the barefoot ragpickers leads me to
Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it,
metaphorically. Those who live here are squatters who came from
Bangladesh back in 1971. Saheb’s family is among them. Seemapuri
was then a wilderness. It still is, but it is no longer empty. In
structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage,
drainage or running water, live 10,000 ragpickers. They have lived
here for more than thirty years without an identity, without permits
but with ration cards that get their names on voters’ lists and enable
them to buy grain.
1. “ a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it” means –
i. Semapuri is not in Delhi
ii. Seemapuri is in Delhi
iii. Seemapuri is different from the rest of Delhi
iv. Seemapuri is near Delhi
a. i, ii, iii, iv
b. ii, iii
c. i, ii
d. iii, iv
A. b
2. Find a synonym of outskirts
A. Periphery
3. Which of the following best describes a squatter?
a. One who lives on a land not belonging to him
b. One who sits cross legged
c. One who spends all the money he has
d. None of these
A. a
4. Why do they have ration cards only?
A. The ragpickers aim at mere survival and so the authorities provide
them ration cards through which they get cheap ration. Other than
that, these people never ask for any permit or identity card.
5. Find a synonym of without
A. Devoid
4. And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years,
it has acquired the proportions of a fine art. Garbage to them is gold.
It is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking
roof. But for a child it is even more.
1. What ‘more’ does the garbage mean for the children?
A. It proves to be a means to fulfil their desires by providing torn
shoes, a coin, old clothes and other such wonders.
2. Why is ragpicking an art?
A. Ragpicking is an art because the ragpicker should have an eye to
search the valuable things in a heap of garbage
3. “It is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking
roof.” This statement means –
1. The roof is made of garbage
2. The bread is made of recycled garbage
3. They earn money for bread by selling things found in the garbage
a. 1, 2, 3
b. 1 only
c. 3 only
d. None of these
A. c
5. His dream looms like a mirage amidst the dust of streets that fill his
town Firozabad, famous for its bangles. Every other family in
Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. It is the centre of India’s
glass-blowing industry where families have spent generations
working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for all the
women in the land it seems.
1. Mirage here means _____
a. An aeroplane
b. A hope that cannot be achieved
c. An image seen in hot weather in the deserts
d. none of these
A. b
2. Why every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making
bangles?
a. They don’t know any other work
b. Firozabad is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry
c. They don’t dare do anything else
d. All of these
A. D
3. Why does the author say that “making bangles for all the women in
the land it seems”?
A. She says this because in Firozabad numerous glass bangles are
made. It appears that all the women buy and wear bangles made here.
4. Find a synonym of fireplace.
A. Furnace
6. He stops at the door of one such house, bangs a wobbly iron door
with his foot, and pushes it open. We enter a half-built shack. In one
part of it, thatched with dead grass, is a firewood stove over which sits
a large vessel of sizzling spinach leaves. On the ground, in large
aluminium platters, are more chopped vegetables. A frail young
woman is cooking the evening meal for the whole family. Through
eyes filled with smoke she smiles. She is the wife of Mukesh’s elder
brother.
1. Wobbly means ______
a. Strong
b. wooden
c. trembling
d. All of these
A. c
2. Shack means ______
a. Shop
b. Hut
c. room
d. None of these
A. b
3. Find a synonym of ‘weak’
A. Frail
4. Why are her eyes filled with smoke?
A. Her eyes are filled with smoke because she is cooking on the
firewood stove which is emitting smoke.
7. “Why not organise yourselves into a cooperative?” I ask a group of
young men who have fallen into the vicious circle of middlemen who
trapped their fathers and forefathers. “Even if we get organised, we
are the ones who will be hauled up by the police, beaten and dragged
to jail for doing something illegal,” they say. There is no leader
among them, no one who could help them see things differently. Their
fathers are as tired as they are.
1. Why will they be beaten by the police?
A. The police will beat them to stop them from organizing themselves
into a cooperative.
2. Hauled up means ________
a. To call to account for something
b. to stop
c. to criticize
d. To teach
A. a
3. They are tired of __________
1. Making bangles
2. The vicious circle of middlemen
3. Each other
a. 1, 2, 3
b. Only 1
c. Only 2
d. Only 3
A. c
4. Find a synonym of harsh
A. Vicious