Lost spring

Short answers:

1. What does the writer mean when she says, ‘Saheb is no longer his own master’?
Answer:
Since Saheb now works in a tea-stall, he is now bound to his master and feels burdened.
The steel canister he carries is very heavy as compared to his light plastic bag. The bag was
his own and the canister belongs to his master whose orders he now has to follow. So he is
no longer his

2. Is it possible for Mukesh to realize his dream? Justify your answer?

Answer:
Mukesh’s determination is going to prove instrumental in helping him to realize his dream.
His dream can become a reality only if he is able to find a garage where he can be taken in
as an apprentice and then he will have to learn how to drive a car. He will then be able to
graduate himself to be a good mechanic.

3. Do you think Saheb was happy to work at the tea stall? Answer giving reasons.
Answer:
Since Saheb now works in a tea-stall, he is now bound to his master and feels burdened.
The steel canister he carries is very heavy as compared to his light plastic bag. The bag was
his own and the canister belongs to his master whose orders he now has to follow. So he is
no longer his own master.

4. Why does the author say that the bangle makers are caught in a vicious web?
Answer:
The author says that the bangle makers are caught in a vicious web which starts from
poverty, to indifferences, then to greed and finally to injustice. Mind-numbing toil kills their
hopes and dreams. They cannot organise themselves into cooperatives and have fallen into
a vicious circle of ‘sahukars’, middlemen and the police so they get condemned to poverty
and perpetual exploitation.

5. What does the writer mean when she says, ‘Saheb is no longer his own master’?
Answer:
Since Saheb now works in a tea-stall, he is now bound to his master and feels burdened.
The steel canister he carries is very heavy as compared to his light plastic bag. The bag was
his own and the canister belongs to his master whose orders he now has to follow. So he is
no longer his own master.
6. Mention any two problems faced by the bangle sellers.
Answer:
The bangle makers had to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells
without air and light. They are exposed to various health hazards like losing their eyesight as
they work in abysmal conditions in dark and dingy cells. They were also caught in a web of
poverty, burdened by the stigma of caste in which they were born and also caught in a
vicious circle of sahukars, middlemen and policeman.

7. Why didn’t the bangle makers of Firozabad organise themselves into a cooperative?
Answer:
The bangle-makers are caught in a vicious web which starts from poverty to indifferences
then to greed and finally to injustice. Mind-numbing toil kills their hopes and dreams.
The bangle makers of Firozabad were not able to organise themselves into a cooperative
because they had got trapped in a vicious circle of the sahukars, the middlemen, the
policemen, the bureaucrats and the politicians. Together they had imposed a baggage on
these people which they could not put down.

8. How is Mukesh’s attitude towards life different from that of his family?
Answer:
Unlike his family Mukesh insists on being his own master. He dreams to be a motor
mechanic which in itself is a daring thought because he wants to break away from the
family’s work of making bangles wherein his forefathers have spent generations working
around furnaces.

9. It is ‘a tradition to stay barefoot ‘ What is the attitude of the rag-pickers of Seemapuri

towards wearing shoes?
Answer:
The rag-pickers of Seemapuri have different attitudes towards wearing shoes. One boy does
not feel like wearing shoes. Another boy who has never owned a pair of shoes all his life
wants them. But the author feels it its not lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot for
these poor people.

10. A young man in Firozabad is burdened under the baggage of two worlds. What are they?
Answer:
The two worlds that burden a young man in Firozabad include one of the family, caught in
the web of poverty, burdened by the stigma of ” caste in which they are born; the other a
vicious circle of the sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the
bureaucrats and the politicians.

11. Why did Saheb’s parents leave Dhaka and migrate to India?
Answer:
Saheb’s home was set amidst the green fields of Dhaka. His mother told him that many
 storms had swept away their fields and homes. For this reason his parents were forced to
leave Dhaka and migrate to India, looking for gold in the big city where they now live.

12. In what sense is garbage gold to the ragpickers?

Answer:
The rag-pickers of Seemapuri consider garbage as nothing less than gold. For the elders it is
their only means of survival as it provides them with their daily bread. For the innocent
children it is wrapped in wonder as they marvel at the chance of finding a coin, a currency
note or a curiosity that really thrills them and gives them a hope of finding more elusive
notes.

13. Most of us do not raise our voice against injustice in our society and tend to remain
mute spectators. Anees Jung in her article, “Lost Childhood” vividly highlights the I
miserable life of street children and bangle makers of Firozabad. She wants us to act. Which
qualities does she want the children to develop?
Answer:
Anees Jung feels that there is dire need to provide these poverty-stricken children a life of
dignity and respect. This can mainly be done through the medium of education, which will
further provide them with opportunities wherein they will be able to pursue their dreams.
There is utter lack of compassion and concern for unfortunate children like Saheb and
Mukesh. They are caught in a vicious circle of poverty and exploitation. The author wants all
children to become aware of their basic rights which will empower them and enable them
to organise themselves into cooperatives whereby they will not be ruthlessly exploited.

14. “It is his karam, his destiny.” What is Mukesh’s family’s attitude towards their situation?
Answer:
Mukesh’s family have accepted their misery and impoverished condition as factors that
have been ordained by destiny. Years of depravation and suffering has made them accept
their condition passively in the name of fate or destiny. They feel that a God-given lineage
can never be broken and have accepted bangle making as his destiny.

15. Describe the irony in Saheb’s name.

Answer:
Saheb’s full name is Saheb-e-Alam which means ‘Lord of the Universe’. But ironically Saheb
is a poverty-stricken ragpicker who scrounges the garbage dumps to earn his livelihood. His
name is in complete contrast to his miserable existence.

Long answers:

1. The bangle-makers of Firozabad make beautiful bangles and make everyone happy but they
live and die in squalor. Elaborate.
Answer:
 Through the story of the bangle-makers of Firozabad, the author expresses her concern
over their exploitation in the hazardous job of bangle-making. Extreme poverty, hard work
and dismal working conditions result in the loss of the childhood of children who are in this
profession. The working conditions of all bangle-makers are pathetic and miserable. They
work in high temperature, badly lit and poorly ventilated glass furnaces due to which child
workers especially are at risk of losing their eyesight at an early age and get prone to other
health hazards. The stinking lanes of Firozabad are choked with garbage and humans and
animals live together in these hovels. There is no development or progress in their lives with
the passage of time. They have no choice but to work in these inhuman conditions. Mind-
numbing toil kills their dreams and hopes. They are condemned to live and die in squalor,
subjected to a life of poverty and perpetual exploitation.

2. What change did Anees Jung see in Saheb when she saw him standing by the gate of the
neighbourhood club?
Answer:
Saheb was a poor ragpicker who later takes up a job at a tea-stall in an attempt to be a
master of his own destiny. But unfortunately this move further enslaves him. His new job
replaces his light polythene bag with a heavy steel canister.
It even deprives him of roaming around with his friends without a care in the world. Earlier,
though he did not have the security of a regular income, he had his freedom, and later he
did have an assured income at the end of the month but he had lost his freedom. He was no
more a free bird and his own master. He appeared burdened and forlorn. He was now a
bonded labour who had surrendered his freedom. From being a spirited free bird who was
not answerable to anyone he has become bound. He lives in a society where there is utter
lack of compassion and commitment for the upliftment of these unfortunate children.

3. What does Anees Jung tell us about life at Mukesh’s home in Firozabad?
Answer:
Mukesh’s father represents the underpaid, over exploited bangle makers of Firozabad who
is a victim of his own caste and is caught in a vicious circle of Sahukars, middlemen,
politicians and policemen. He leads a hand-to-mouth existence in a shack with his family
which includes two elderly parents, two sons and a daughter-in-law. Lack of education and
awareness, the stigma of caste and a vicious nexus of people who exploit them have killed
all initiative and drive in the young and the old. Time seems to stand still in Mukesh’s home
in Firozabad. There is no progress and no development despite years of mind- numbing toil.
All the labourers of Firozabad are victims of middlemen and touts. Their desire to dream
and dare is snubbed in their childhood. They have no choice but to accept their
subservience silently as their spirit is broken and their initiative dormant.

4. In 1971 Bangladeshi migrants came to Delhi ‘looking for gold in the big city’. What kind of
life are they living in Seemapuri now?

Answer:
 Most of the people like Saheb-e-Alam settled in Seemapuri were refugees from Bangladesh
who had fled their country and migrated to Delhi from Dhaka in the wake of the 1971 Indo-
Pak war. Their dwellings were structures of mud, tin and tarpaulin with no sewage, drainage
or running water. Picking garbage and rags helped them to earn their daily bread, gave
them a roof over their heads and was their only means of livelihood and survival. Though
these squatters of Seemapuri have no identity but they do have valid ration cards that
enable them to buy grain. Living in Seemapuri, which is on the periphery of Delhi, is like
living in hell. Children here grow up to become partners in survival to their parents. An army
of barefoot children appears every morning, carrying their plastic bags on their shoulders
and disappear by noon. They are forced to live a life of abject poverty that results in the loss
of childhood innocence.
Saheb, a ragpicker, roamed in the streets, scrounging for garbage, barefoot and deprived of
education. Later he starts working in a tea stall but he loses his freedom and carefree life as
he is no longer his own master.

5. Describe the difficulties the bangle makers of Firozabad have to face in their lives.
Answer:
Through the story of the bangle-makers of Firozabad, the author expresses her concern
over their exploitation in the hazardous job of bangle-making. Extreme poverty, hard work
and dismal working conditions result in the loss of the childhood of children who are in this
profession. The working conditions of all bangle-makers are pathetic and miserable. They
work in high temperature, badly lit and poorly ventilated glass furnaces due to which child
workers especially are at risk of losing their eyesight at an early age and get prone to other
health hazards. The stinking lanes of Firozabad are choked with garbage and humans and
animals live together in these hovels. There is no development or progress in their lives with
the passage of time. They have no choice but to work in these inhuman conditions. Mind-
numbing toil kills their dreams and hopes. They are condemned to live and die in squalor,
subjected to a life of poverty and perpetual exploitation.

6. “It is his karam, his destiny” that made Mukesh’s grandfather go blind. How did Mukesh
disprove this belief by choosing a new vocation and making his own destiny?

Answer:
Mukesh disproved the belief of “his karam, his destiny” by choosing a new vocation in an
attempt to make his own destiny. He decided to become a motor mechanic. He mustered
the courage to break free from the family lineage of bangle making. He had seen his parents
and others suffering because of the vicious circle of poverty and exploitation that they were
caught in. Mukesh was ready to walk a long distance to reach the garage to learn the
vocation of car mechanic. His determination is going to prove instrumental in helping him to
realize his dream. Mukesh dares to dream of a different life and decides not to pursue his
family business of bangle-making. He does not want to accept his life of misery in the name
of destiny. Though he is born in a poverty-ridden family in the caste of bangle makers he
dreams of a better future. He wants to break free from the vicious circle of sahukars and
 middlemen and carve a new beginning for himself by becoming a motor-mechanic. He
knows what it is like to work in glass furnaces that are neither well-lit nor well-ventilated.
They are dingy hovels with high temperatures. He has seen that the youngsters are weighed
down by the baggage of generations of subservience and have forgotten to dream of an
alternative world. So Mukesh’s dream of going to a garage and learning to be a motor-
mechanic is an attempt to break-free off the mind-numbing toil.

7. “For the children it is wrapped in wonder, for the elders it is a means of survival.” What kind
of life do the rag-pickers of Seemapuri lead?

Answer:
Garbage, for the ragpickers of Seemapuri, is considered to be nothing less than gold. Picking
garbage helps them to earn their daily bread, gives them a roof over their head and is their
only means of livelihood and survival. For the innocent children garbage is wrapped in
wonder as they marvel at the prospect of finding a coin, a currency note or a curio that
sustains their hope. These children grow up to become partners in survival with their
parents. Seemapuri houses around 10,000 ragpickers mostly Bangladeshi refugees, who
have lived there for more than thirty years without an identity and without permits. These
people live in mud structures with roofs made of tin and tarpaulin. The ration cards that
enable them to get their names on voters’ lists and enable them to buy grain and garbage
are their means of survival. Food is more important to them for survival than an identity.

8. Grinding poverty and tradition condemn the children of ragpickers or bangle-makers to a

life of exploitation. Such children are deprived of all opportunities in life. Mukesh, who opts
out of the existing profession of his forefathers by resolving to start a new job of a motor
mechanic symbolises the modem youth. What lesson do we learn from Mukesh’s example?
Answer:
It is not only the grinding poverty but also the tradition that condemns the children of
ragpickers or bangle-makers to live a life of exploitation. On one side is the family, trapped
in poverty and burdened by stigma of the caste they are born in, on the other side, they are
trapped in the vicious circle of inhuman sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the so-
called keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians. All of them have created a
situation from which there is no way out.

The trapped do not have the guts to break out of it. Mukesh, in fact, is like a ray of hope
with his dreams of becoming a motor mechanic. He wants to opt out of the existing
profession of his forefathers. He has resolved to start a new job as a motor mechanic. The
long distance to the garage where he will learn the work of a motor mechanic does not
deter him. He is prepared to walk. But he is firm. He symbolises the youth of his clan. If this
persists, the day is not far when a new generation will bring brightness and hope to the dark
and dingy homes of these poverty-ridden workers.