CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo Book Important

Questions for Chapter 2 Lost Spring Stories of Stolen

Childhood

Lost Spring Stories of Stolen Childhood 2 Marks Important Questions – 30

to 40 words
Q 1. What explanation did the children offer the writer for not wearing
footwear? Dis she agree to it?

Ans. One explanation is that they remain barefoot out of tradition. Another boy explained
that he was barefoot because his mother did not bring the footwear down from the shelf.
The author feels that these are mere excuses to explain away the poverty that these people
live in.

Q 2. Mention any two difficulties faced by the bangle sellers of Firozabad.

Ans. The bangle makers of Firozabad are a troubled lot. They earn meagre amounts of
money. They can not even afford enough food for the family. The glass bangle making
involves such processes which harms them physically and they end up losing their vision
before they gain adulthood.

Q 3. For Saheb, how was the work at the tea stall different from rag picking?

Ans. Saheb took up a job at a tea stall for eight hundred rupees a month. He was not
happy there because he had lost his freedom. He had to work according to the directions
of the owner. As a ragpicker he was his own master.

Q 4. ‘Little has moved with time, it seems, in Firozabad.’ State any one reason
why the author says this.

Ans. The author says this because the bangle makers have been following this profession
since ages. The tradition is passed on from one generation to the next. Despite the fact
that the profession does not offer much to them, they continue to pursue it because they
are caught in a vicious circle of middlemen, policemen and politicians. They cannot dare
to do anything else.

Q 5. Describe the irony in Saheb’s name.

Ans. Saheb’s name is Saheb-e-alam, meaning Lord of the Universe. This implies that he
should be living a luxurious life. On the contrary, Saheb is a ragpicker, lives in a slum and
suffers from utter poverty. He rummages through garbage, in the hope of finding money
or anything useful. The family barely manages to make ends meet.

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Q 6. Why can’t the bangle makers of Firozabad organize themselves into a
cooperative?

Ans. The bangle makers do not organize themselves into a cooperative due to the fear of
the police. They fear that they will be beaten and dragged to jail for something illegal. The
lack of a leader mars their lives. The elders are too tired to guide them and so, they are
trapped in a spiral of poverty.

Q 7. What is Mukesh’s dream? Do you think he will be able to fulfil his

dream? Why or why not?

Ans. Mukesh dreams of becoming a car mechanic. He is different from the people of
Firozabad because he dares to dream. He aims to join a garage and learn driving too. I
think that Mukesh will be able to fulfil his dream. He has passion and the grim life of
Firozabad has not crushed his dream. This shows his determination. Thus, we can infer
that Mukesh will definitely achieve his dream.

Q 8 ‘Garbage to them was gold’. Why does the author say so about the
ragpickers of Seemapuri?

Ans. For the children of Seemapuri, ragpicking was not a means of survival but it was a
means of wonder. They had gained expertise in rummaging through heaps of garbage.
They would search for precious things which are referred to as ‘gold’ by the author. These
things could be a one rupee coin or a ten rupee note or a torn shoe. For these poor
children, garbage was the only means of fulfilling their dreams.

Q 9. Why did Saheb’s parents leave Dhaka and migrate to India?

Ans. There were repeated floods in Dhaka which swept away their homes and fields. They
were rendered homeless and had nothing left – no home, no work, no food. They
migrated to India in the hope of better opportunities. They could get better livelihood and
living conditions. This forced them to migrate to India.

Lost Spring Stories of Stolen Childhood 5 Marks Important Questions –

120 to 150 words
Q 1. Describe the difficulties that the bangle makers of Firozabad face in their
lives.

Ans. In the story ‘Lost Spring’ the author Anees Jung gives us an insight into the lives of
the bangle makers of Firozabad. They are born in poverty, live in poverty and die in
poverty. They are caught in the vicious spiral of the middlemen, policemen and
moneylenders. They have been continuing this profession for generations but their living
conditions are miserable. The profession does not even help them provide stomach full
food for their families.

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Their houses have crumbling walls, wobbly doors and no windows. The industry harms
them physically too. They have to work in high temperature furnaces. The flickering light
of the oil lamps snatches their eye sight too. Even the police and the administration
exploit them and lead them to poverty. Illiteracy, lack of leadership and a fatalist attitude
force them to continue living such a life.

Q 2 . Mukesh is not like the others. His ‘dreams loom like a mirage amidst the
dust of streets that fill his town Firozabad.’ Justify the statement in the light
of contrast in the mindset of Mukesh and the people of Firozabad.

Ans – The people of Firozabad are traditionally involved in the bangle making industry.
The profession harms them physically – most of them lose their eye sight before they
become adults. It does not provide enough profits, their their lives are gripped by poverty.
They are trapped in a vicious circle of the middlemen, policemen and moneylenders. Still,
they do not change their profession.

Mukesh is a striking contrast to this. He dares to dream and wants to become a car
mechanic. He plans to join a garage and learn driving too. He has the passion which will
help him break free from the tradition and achieve his goal.

Q 3. What are the hazards of working in a glass bangle factory?

Ans. The bangle making profession is a hazardous one. The workers have to work in
furnaces which have extremely high temperatures. The cells are dingy and lack proper
ventilation.
Children engaged in the industry have to slog the daylight hours and lose their eye sight
even before they gain adulthood. They undergo mind numbing toil which kills their
initiative and ability to dream.

Q 4. What kind of life did children living in Seemapuri lead?

Ans. The children living in the slums of Seemapuri led a poverty ridden life. They
rummaged through garbage dumps in the hope of finding ‘gold’. The word gold means any
valuable thing which could be a one rupee coin, a ten rupee note or a pair of torn shoes.
The children would try to fulfil their dreams through the discarded items found in the
garbage heaps. They did not even dream of going to schools.

Q 5. In India, we believe in prayers. Whenever we are faced with a problem,

we pray to God. A son of a priest at Udipi, while going to school, prayed at the
temple for a pair of shoes. Thirty years later, we find his son well dressed in a
school uniform. What has brought about this change – the father’s prayer or
the father having gone to school or both? Give a reasonable answer.

Ans. Prayers give us courage and strength to strive towards our goal. The father’s
achievement was a result of both – his going to school and his daily prayers. He went to
school everyday and prayed too. This gave him the courage and motivation to keep on

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going. I feel that success is a result of continued effort along with the determination to
succeed. Thus, the priest has uplifted his standard of living. He is able to provide school,
uniform and shoes to his son because of his sincere and dedicated efforts.

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