Lost Spring
Important Questions
Q1. What does the writer mean when she says, ‘Saheb is no longer his own master’?
Ans. Since Saheb now works in a tea stall the steel canister he carries is very heavy as compared to his light plastic bag. Saheb is not happy working at the tea stall. Even though, he now gets a fixed income of 800 alongwith all his meals, he has lost his freedom and his carefree days.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.
Q2. Is it possible for Mukesh to realize his dream? Justify your answer?
Ans. 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.
Q3. What does the title, ‘Lost Spring’ convey?
Ans. The title ‘Lost Spring’ conveys how millions of children in India lose out on living the ‘spring’ of their lives, that is their childhood. Their best phase of life is lost in the hardships involved to earn their livelihood. Poverty forces these young children to work in the most inhuman conditions as a result of which they miss out on the fun of childhood which hampers their growth.
Q4. Why does the author say that the bangle makers are caught in a vicious web?
Ans. The bangle makers are caught in a vicious web of indifferences, greed and 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.
Q5. Who is Mukesh? What is his dream? How is Mukesh’s attitude towards life different from that of his family?
Ans. Mukesh is a child labourer in a bangle making factory factory in Firozabad.He has no fascination towards bangle-making . Unlike his family Mukesh insists on being his own master and dreams of becoming a motor mechanic. He desires to go to a garage and get the required training for this job.
Q6. Mention any two problems faced by the bangle makers.
Ans. 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 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.
Q7. Garbage has two different meanings—one for the children and another for the adults. Comment.
Ans. For the children garbage is wrapped in wonder, their eyes light-up when they find a rupee or a ten-rupee note in it. They search the garbage excitedly with the hope of finding something. But for the adults it is a means of survival.
Q8. A young man in Ferozabad is burdened under the baggage of two worlds. What are they?
Ans. The two worlds that burden a young man in Ferozabad 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.
Q9. Most of us do not raise our voice against injustice in our society and tend to remain
mute spectators. Anees Jung in her article, l “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?
Ans. Anees Jung feels that there is great 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.
Q10. It is his karam, his destiny.” What is Mukesh’s family’s attitude towards their situation?
Ans. Mukesh’s family have accepted their misery and impoverished condition as factors that have been ordained by fate. Years of 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.
Q11. Describe the irony in Saheb’s name.
Ans. 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 ans type
Q1. The bangle makers of Ferozabad make beautiful bangles and make everyone happy but they live and die in squalor. Elaborate.
Ans. Through the story of the bangle-makers of Ferozabad, 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 Ferozabad 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.
Q2. Describe the life of squatters at Seemapuri.
Ans. Most of the squatters at 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.
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