LOST SPRING

Q.1 Write a note on the theme of the lesson Lost Spring.

Ans: “Lost Spring” deals with the miserable plight of street children forced into labour early
in life and denied the opportunity of schooling. The author has taken the example of Saheb-e-
Alam, a ragpicker and Mukesh, a bangle maker. Both of them find themselves in a vicious circle
of social stigma, poverty and exploitation. While Saheb gives up ragpicking in favour of a job at
a tea -shop, Mukesh wants to be a motor mechanic. Both of them have an ardent desire to
study and both would love to play if only their busy lives could permit. Saheb and Mukesh
represent a growing number of refugees, migrants and poor who are being forced to a life of
penury.

Another theme that runs parallel to the major theme is the callousness of society and the
political class to these people’s misery. There is an utter lack of compassion, empathy and
commitment for the uplift of these children of a lesser God.

Thus, the newspaper feature ‘Lost Spring’ sensitizes the reader to the miserable plight of the
poorest of the poor and emphasizes the urgent need to end the vicious circle of exploitation
through education, awareness, cooperative organization and empowerment.

Q.2 Write a note on the title of the story ‘Lost Spring’.

Ans: As a title “Lost Spring” has a tinge of irony. Spring is the best season of a year. Being full
of colour, fragrance and freshness, it is also a season of renewal and growth. The childhood of
human life is often likened to spring, as it marks the beginning of human life and has a
tremendous scope for growth. It is full of joy, pleasure and play. Children anywhere in the world
are a source of great joy. But , ironically, millions of children like Saheb and Mukesh experience
no spring in their lives, for their childhood is consumed in making a living.Education,play and
pleasure are not for them to enjoy. They must work to support themselves and their families.

Thus the title brings out the depravity of child labour in a very telling way.

Understanding the text

1. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?

Ans: Food,clothing and shelter are the three basic needs of all human beings, the world over.
People in all countries and societies aim and struggle to fulfill these needs. For some it is a
relatively easier task and for some a herculean effort.
All major cities see a continuous influx of migrants from small villages. Some come in search of
job, some for education,some to fulfill their dreams and make money and some for name and
fame.Social,economic and political environment plays a prominent role in their city bound
journey.Poverty, lack of facilities and opportunities,oppression and suppression by powers that
be,natural calamities like flood,famine and personal necessities and tragedies,all contribute to
the migration of people from villages to the cities.

2. 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?

Yes, I agree that promises made to the poor children are rarely kept. The rich, who come in
contact with children from the poor sections of society or slums mostly do not register the
presence of these children,who are a nuisance for them. They see them begging,picking rags,
selling small objects, polishing shoes or wiping windshields of their swanky cars at high points
but there is hardly any interaction between these two opposite worlds. And if an individual or a
social worker pauses to listen to them, it is more out of a sense of curiosity than a social
obligation. Promises made during the course of such interaction are generally thoughtless,
careless suggestions or encouragements which are never meant to be fulfilled but sow a seed
of hope in the hearts of these unfortunate beings. Saheb is one such example. When the author
encourages him to study and offers to open a school, it ignites a spark in him and raises his
hopes. However,she does not realize the disappointment it would eventually lead to.

Q.3 What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in
poverty?

Ans: Lack of education and awareness, stigma of being born in the caste of bangle makers,
vicious nexus between the sahukars, middlemen,politicians and police suppresses and
oppresses the bangle-sellers and keeps them poverty-stricken. They cannot but accept their
subservience silently and unquestioningly.Broken spirit,dormant initiative,fear of being and
dragged to jail, absence of awareness and leadership only matters worse.

Q.4 How in your opinion, can Mukesh realize his dream?

Ans: Mukesh in my view has already taken the first step to make his dream come true. Unlike
his peers who have become weighed down by years of subservience,Mukesh still retains a hope
in his heart and a spark in his spirit. Despite his miserable condition he has dared to dream of a
different life, a different vocation.

He can definitely realize his dream, if he raises his voice against child labour and breaks free of
the nexus of the corrupt forces conspiring to keep the labour class suppressed. If he follows his
heart, unmindful of the difficulties, he can certainly realize his dream to be a motor mechanic.
Q.5 Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.

Ans: The glass bangle industry in Firozabad is a disorganized sector with neither proper
infrastructure nor basic amenities. These ill-lit, ill-ventilated, glass-blowing furnaces like dingy
hovels with high temperatures where children and adults work in unhygienic conditions.Lack of
protective eye gear, long working hours and back-breaking postures lead them to lose their
eyesight and makes them old at an early age.

Q.6 Why should child labour be eliminated and how?

Ans: Children are the future generation of any country. Like all citizens they have an equal
right to education. There is a ban on child labour and stringent punishment exists for anyone
who practices it. Despite this law, numerous industries in our country like the bangle industry,
tobacco industry, carpet weaving factories, matchstick manufacturing units, firework factories
and agriculture sector employ young children as they provide cheap labour.

Child labour in my view should be totally abolished as children of today are the hope of
tomorrow. If the children of today are suppressed and exploited, a generation is lost and then
the loss will be borne by the whole country in the future.

Public awareness,ban on child labour through print,audio and visual media, enforcement of
law, compulsory education for chidren upto 14 yrs of age, check by Govt agencies and N.G.Os
will go a long way in eliminating child labour and making our future generation physically,
mentally and emotionally liberated.

Additional Questions

1. What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has come
from?

Ans: Saheb is a ragpicker in the author’s neighbourhood. He lives in Seemapuri, a sprawling

slum on the outskirts of Delhi.He belongs to a Bangladeshi refugee family which migrated to
Delhi from Dhaka in the wake of 1971 Indo-Pak War. The author says that Saheb scrounges for
‘gold’ in the garbage. Gold here can mean the yellow metal as well as anything valuable like
used clothes, shoes, bits of metal, plastic scrap,stray coins and currency notes.

2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?

Ans: The author has seen several other children besides ragpickers like Saheb walking
barefoot during her travels across India. She is told that staying barefoot is an ancient tradition.
However, she believes that in India staying barefoot is perhaps a forced necessity due to
perpetual poverty than a faithful adherence to an old tradition.
3. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain

Ans: No, in my view Saheb is not happy working at a tea-stall. Like all children Saheb also
wishes to lead a happy and carefree life of play. Although the job at tea- stall has provided him
a fixed income of Rs 800/- pm but it has replaced the light plastic bag with a heavy steel
canister and also deprived him of the company of his friends. From being a spirited free bird
answerable to none, he has become a forlorn, burdened and bound being.

4. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?

Ans: The city of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh is famous for its bangles- the symbol of ‘ Suhag’
and auspiciousness in marriage in India. It is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry where
families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles to
adorn the wrists of women.

5. What reason does Saheb’s mother cite to her son for leaving their homeland? What name do
we give to such people?

Ans: Saheb’s mother,a Bangladeshi tells her son that they left their homeland Bangladesh in
search of a better life and livelihood as their home and fields were destroyed in numerous
storms,leaving them destitute and penniless. People who leave their homeland country for
social, economic or political reasons and seek refuge/ shelter in other countries are called
‘refugees’.

6. How is Saheb’s name full of irony?

Ans: Saheb’s full name is Saheb-e-Alam meaning ‘lord of the universe’. But Saheb is a poverty
stricken,barefoot,homeless ragpicker who scrounges the garbage dumps of Delhi to eke out a
livelihood. His name is in total contrast to his very existence and is thus deeply ironical.

7. Explain the use of literary devices in the sentence “an army of barefoot boys who
appear like the morning birds and disappear at noon.”

Ans: The above sentence contains examples of two literary devices- metaphor and simile.
The author uses the metaphor of ‘army’ to describe a group of ragpickers who invade garbage
dumps in the streets of Delhi. Next, she uses the simile ‘like birds’ to describe the manner in
which these ragpickers converge on and desert the garbage dumps like the scavengers birds
haunting these dumps. Just like the birds, the ragpicker boys are free spirited and enjoy and
revel in their freedom.

8. Why do slums like Seemapuri mushroom around big cities?

Ans: Exodus from neighbouring countire like Bangladesh and Nepal to India and migration
from villages to metropolitian cities within India, in search of livelihood and existence is an
endless and ongoing phenomenon. This migratory population settles on the periphery of big
cities and starts doing menial and odd jobs to eke out a living. These illegal settlements or slums
abound around all big cities. Dharvi in Mumbai and Seemapuri bordering Delhi are some glaring
examples.

9. Despite being refugees, how do people in Seemapuri have ration cards?

Ans: The refugee population of Seemapuri represents a large vote bank for various political
parties and at some stage these illegal occupants of government land around cities are
provided ration cards and at some stage these illegal occupants of government land around
cities are provided ration cards to benefit political sharks in the election process.Using these
cards they can get grains from government agencies.

10. Why does the author describe children of slums as partners in survival?

Ans: In most families- middle class and upwards- children are precious beings, cared
for,nurtured and looked after right from their infancy. They are dependent on their parents for
all their needs, be it nourishment, health, education and shelter. On the other side, children in
Seemapuri are offsprings of homeless ragpickers. Due to extreme poverty, their parents are
unable to provide for them and they end up picking rags at an early age for their survival and as
support to their parents.

11. Describe the condition of children in slums considering the author’s perception of them
as partners in survival.

Ans: Children living in slums are an unfortunate lot. The author gives us an insight into the
lives of poor ragpickers living in a slum Seemapuri, bordering Delhi. Born to destitute refugee
parents, these children grow up in makeshift shacks with tin and tarpaulin roofs,sans sewage,
drainage or running water. Deprived of education they take to picking rags at an early age to
support their families and fight an unending battle everyday for their survival.

12. Why does garbage have a different meaning for ragpicker children?

OR

How do elders and children look at garbage differently?

Ans: For the elders, rag- picking is a necessary evil- the only means of survival as it provides
them their daily bread.On the other hand, ragpicker children, in their innocence view the
garbage as a mine of gold.They marvel at what they might find in the layers of garbage dump. A
chance finding of a coin, a currency note or a curio thrills them beyond imagination and
provides them hope for finding more elusive notes. So the author aptly says that for children,
garbage is wrapped in wonder and for elders it is a means of survival.

13. “ I go inside when no one is around.”Where does Saheb go? Why? Why does he go
there only when no one is around?

Ans: Saheb goes to the tennis court of a neighbourhood club whenever the friendly
gatekeeper allows him. He goes there to use the swing when no one is around. However, he
would like to play tennis if he could get a chance to do so.

14. Is Mukesh’s sister-in-law’s (Bhabhi’s) life different from Mukesh?

Ans: Mukesh’s sister-in-law is almost as old as Mukesh. She is a frail young girl who at an
early age has become responsible for the welfare of the whole family. Unlike girls of her
age,who work in glass furnaces, she cooks, cleans and looks after Mukesh’s family comprising
his grandparents, parents and elder brother. Her life is not much different from Mukesh as
instead of working in a hovel- like glass furnace, she works in a hovel-like home. She belongs to
that tribe of Indian women who are neither seen, nor heard but only exist.

15. What has Mukesh’s father achieved in life despite years of hard back-breaking labour?

Ans: Mukesh’s father is a representative of the underpaid, overexploited bangle makers of

Firozabad. He is a victim of his own caste,poverty and a vicious circle of sahukars, middlemen,
politicians and policemen. He leads a hand to mouth existence in a shack with his family of two
elderly parents, two sons and a daughter-in-law. Despite exploring two professions, that of a
tailor and a bangle-maker, he has not been able to build either a pucca house for his family or
provide education to his two sons.

16. How does Mukesh’s grandmother view the family occupation of bangle making and its
poverty?

Ans: Mukesh’s grandmother views bangle making as the destiny of her family. Her husband’s
blindness,their misfortune and impoverished condition, she feels, are ordained by destiny.
Years of deprivation and suffering make her stoically accept everything in the name of karma or
fate. In fact, now she also takes heat in belonging to a long lineage of bangle makers.

17. How has being born in the caste of bangle makers become both a destiny and a curse?

Ans: Many people in India follow a rigid caste system. Being born in a caste of bangle makers
in the city of Firozabad is both a destiny and accurse. By virtue of their birth, extreme poverty,
lack of education and opportunity, they have to take up the profession of bangle making at an
early age. Their destiny becomes a curse as once in this profession, they are in the grip of a
vicious circle. All doors close on them and in a short span of time they end up losing their spirit
as well as eyesight.

18. Will wearing bangles on her wedding day that she helps makes, eventually change
Savita’s life?

Ans: Savita is a child labourer who makes bangles in a glass furnace in Firozabad. She is
unaware of the auspicious significance of bangles for a married woman.When she grows up and
gets married, her wrists would also be adorned by the bangles she helps makes. But ironically,
these bangles and married status would not bring any positive change in her life. On the
contrary, when she gets married and wears these bangles, her eyesight might already have
started failing her.

19. What has put a stop to all initiatives and ability to see dreams?

OR

Why do bangle makers lack initiative and an ability to dream?

Ans: Acute poverty, lack of education, zero infrastructural development and hand to mouth
existence have sucked away people’s energy and will power. Back-breaking and mind-numbing
hard work at glass furnaces has left both young and old with little time or desire to dream for a
better future. They seem to have accepted their destiny of inevitable poverty which has killed
all sparks of initiative in them.

20. Why are the people of Firozabad averse to the cooperative movement?

OR

Why can’t the bangle makers organize themselves into a cooperative ?

Ans: Generations of family subservience to middlemen, combined with lack of education,

awareness and acute poverty has broken the spirit of the younger generation also. They fear
that organizing themselves into a cooperative movement will only make them bear the wrath of
police. They lack a leader amongst them and are aware that the vicious nexus of sahukars,
middlemen,politicians and police would not allow the cooperative movement to take shape.

21. What,according to the author, is the child worker weighed down under?

Or

What two distinct worlds does Anees Jung speak of with respect to bangle makers?
Ans: A child worker in Firozabad, according to the author is weighed down under two distinct
worlds. The first is the world of poverty-ridden family and caste stigma which dictates
compromise and second is the world of poverty-ridden family and caste stigma which dictates
compromise and second is the world of sahukars, middlemen, policemen, bureaucrats and
politicians which dictates oppression.

22. How is Mukesh different from his peers?

OR

“Mukesh is a rebel.” Do you agree. Give reasons in support of your answer.

Ans: Mukesh, like his peers, is born in a poverty-ridden family in a caste of bangle makers.
Like all children of such families, he has received no education but instead has become a child
labourer doing back-breaking,mind- numbing work in glass furnaces. But unlike his peers his
spark has not been extinguished. He is a rebel in that he dares to dream of a different life and
wishes to become a motor mechanic.

HOTS QUESTIONS

1. Like all children of his age, Saheb also had many hopes and dreams. Do you think
children like Saheb are able to fulfil their dreams?

Ans: Saheb belonged to a Bangladeshi refugee family and lived in a slum named Seemapuri
bordering Delhi. Every morning he took a round of neighbouring areas in Delhi with a group of
friends anda light polythene bag on his shoulder, scrounging through garbage dumps, sifting
paper and polythene.

His daily existence was dependent upon his rag-picking routine and this was the only means of
livelihood and survival known to him. Observing children in posh areas playing football, wearing
quality clothes and shoes also awakened in him a yearning to be like them. He wanted to own a
pair of shoes, go to school, become educated, play sports and lead a respectable life. Like all
children of his age he also had many hopes and dreams but sadly lacked the means to see his
dreams come ture. He knew that he did not have many choices and his refugee status and
poverty were a great handicap. But Saheb also possessed a resilient spirit as he decided to give
shape to his dream of a better life by abandoning rag-picking and taking up regular job. He
joined as an apprentice in a tea-stall for Rs 800 pm, and did odd jobs for the owner. The surety
of a fix salary at the end of the month took him a step further from a hand to mouth existence.
Though he lost his independence and ceased to be his own master, but he did pave way for a
better life economically.
In my view few children like Saheb, born in abject poverty are able to change their life and
improve their lot. Few can find a way to step out of the vicious clutches of poverty and
eventually become complacent with their lot. Some graduate from rag-picking to begging and
petty crimes and fall deeper into quagmire. Only the tenacious ones with a never say die
attitude succeed in chartering the course of their own destiny against all odds.

Q.2 Slums are the ugly underbelly of all big cities the world over. Describe the contrasting
world of ‘Haves’ and ‘Have-nots’ treading these two worlds.

Ans: The social fabric of the world we inhabit has been divided and categorized under many
different headings but the division on the basis of material wealth is the most glaring and
common across all nations. It is a stark reality that human beings, the world over can be divided
into two slots- the haves and the have-nots and also that all affluent cities are surrounded by
slums. Just as a coin has two sides, every city has two faces-the bright, the well-lit and the
illuminated world of the rich and the dark, dingy, depressing world of the poor.The poor exist
on the periphery, constantly yearning for the bright world and the rich are dependent on them
to keep their world well scrubbed and spruced up. The clothes they wear, the cars they drive,
the food they eat, the houses they live in are all cleaned and maintained by the poor and the
bread on the poor man’s plate, the clothes covering their body are the result of the rich man’s
generosity. Ironically,both the worlds exist in close proximity- but represent a stark contrast.

People living in these worlds survive on give and take which satisfies their mutual needs.
Despite being the ugly underside of the big cities, slums and their dwellers have become an
intrinsic part of the world of the rich as existence is interlinked and interdependent for both.
The rich have the money but no desire to do their own menial work and the poor have no
money.

Q.3 Politicians exploit all people and situations to their own benefit. Comment, keeping in
view the situation of refugees in Seemapuri.

Ans: The world is a stage, politicians- the directors and common people- the cast of the play
to be directed and unfolded on this stage. Strangely politicians thrive on strife, discord, war,
terror and turn all this to their own advantage.

It is a common knowledge that in our country slums have mushroomed around all big and small
cities and are inhabited by either refugees from other countries or migrants from other states
within India. These people come in search of better existence and livelihood and create a world
of shacks and hutments on the periphery of thriving cities. They live in unhygienic conditions
without sanitation facilities, water and electricity connections- in abject poverty, struggling
daily and surviving on the hope that one day their life would take a turn for the better. Come
elections and a hope erupts in their hearts as they represent a large vote bank for the
politicians. It is again time for free gifts as baits, empty promises and rekindled hopes.

People in Seemapuri, ten thousand or more refugees from Bangladesh, are an example of the
above. They have been living there for more than four decades and earning a livelihood
through ragpicking. Devoid of all basic amenities,they nevertheless possess valid ration cards
which enable them to buy grain at subsidized rate. The need to provide a ration card was
perhaps realized by wily politicians who recognized a massive vote bank in the 10,000 plus
refugees. This fact was subsequently exploited by all the successive governments. They are
wooed before every election and then conveniently forgotten. Their only acquisitions till now
are a ration card and ghetto like living conditions.

Q.4 For most women,bangles are dreams in glass but for bangle makers of Firozabad they
are a vicious circle they cannot wriggle out of. Comment.

Ans: Bangles-red,green,blue, yellow etc. are a symbol of ‘suhaag’ (long life of husband) and
auspiciousness in marriage in our country since centuries. In today’s world,they are also fashion
statement for the young and old women alike. These glass bangles of varied hues adorning a
woman’s wrist provide not only a visual treat but also music of their own with their sweet joy
and happiness in the lives of women. But ironically little do these women realize that the
makers of these beautiful bangles themselves live a miserable life. After nearly 60yrs of
independence, Firozabad, the hub of bangle industry is an underdeveloped, backward town
with neither any infrastructure nor basic amenities. The town resembles a dumping ground
with garbage strewn all over. The glass furnaces where workers make bangles are ill-
lit,ventilated,dingy hovels with high temperatures.

People who work in these furnaces are barely able to string together one frugal meal a day and
live in shacks with temporary roofs, crumbling walls and wobbly doors. To add to the misery, all
of them lose their eyesight at a young age and live in a dark world for the rest of their lives with
no pension, no help and no hope.

Q.5 Why is Mukesh’s dream of ‘learning to drive a car’ likened to a mirage?

Ans: Mukesh, the young child labourer of Firozabad bangle industry is a representative of nearly
20,000 other such children. He is born in a poverty-ridden family in the caste of bangle makers.
Lack of education and awareness, stigma of caste and the vicious nexus between sahukars,
middlemen, politicians and police have killed all initiative and drive in the young and old. The
young are weighed down by the baggage of generations of subservience and have forgotten to
dream of different world. Thus Mukesh’s dream of ‘learning to drive a car’ is likened to a mirage
as it open to speculation whether this dream will ever be fulfilled.
Q.6 What is a Cooperative movement? Why does Anees suggest to bangle makers to form a
cooperative? What role model can they follow?

Ans: Cooperative movement is a socially and economically beneficial concept. It has

revolutionized many a small scale disorganized sector and changed the lives of lakhs of people.
Our country and its economy thrive on many such scale units spread over different states.
Earlier due to lack of education and awareness and disorganized structure of their workforce
these people were exploited by middlemen. Despite all their hard work and labour they could
not make much gains. Only the middlemen benefitted from this situation. The same is the case
with the workers of the bangle industry. They provide cheap labour with no demand of
insurance or provident fund and help the sahukars, middlemen,politicians and police fill their
coffers.

A universally acknowledged and hugely successful cooperative movement in India is Amul Dairy
Cooperative Movement spearheaded by Shri Verghese Kurien. Single-handedly and with great
opposition from middlemen, he brought all the milk families of Gujrat under one umbrella and
formed a global brand manufacturing milk powder,chocolates, butter and cheese.

Taking a leaf out of Dr Kurien’s book, all disorganized small scale units should be set free from
the nexus of middlemen,politicians and police and turned into cooperative societies. This would
benefit not only the concerned people but also the country and its economy.