DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL, DURGAPUR

CLASS – XII (24-25) ENGLISH

LOST SPRING: STORIES OF STOLEN CHILHOOD EXTRA QUESTIONS
SUMMARY
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 labor 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.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Q. What is the irony in Saheb’s name?
A. Saheb’s full name was Saheb -e- Alam which means ‘the lord of universe’. The irony in his name was
that he was a poor rag picker who did not even have chappals to wear. His state of life was not even close to
that of a lord. He walked on the streets barefooted to earn his living and looked into the garbage for gold
coins or something to survive his days.
Q. What message does the title ‘Lost Spring’ convey?
A. The title ‘Lost Spring’ conveys how millions of children in India lose out on living the ‘spring’ of their
lives, that is their childhood. 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.
Q. 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. There is no denying that promises made to the poor children are rarely kept. In our modern democratic India, people
living in slum colonies and resettlement areas have little access to civic amenities and education. They’re meant to cast
their votes or show their participation in political rallies. Their grievances are hardly adhered to by bureaucrats. The
author gave two current examples of the residents of Seemapuri and Firozabad.
In Seemapuri more than 10,000 rag-pickers living in mud structures, with tin roofs and tarpaulins. They’re
devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. They live without an identity, except for a ration card to vote
and buy grain. They’re still barefoot, and the garbage is gold for them. The writer asks Saheb, a rag-picker
about school. The boy says there’s none in his neighborhood. He says he’s willing to go if they build it. But
it’s never done. Likewise, about 20,000 children work in bangle factories and work in high-temperature glass
furnaces. They live in dingy cells and stingy garbage-choked lanes. In grinding poverty, they spend their
lives failing to get proper food. There are no dreams and no initiatives for the poor. They are the most secure
targets for exploitation.
Q. “For children, garbage has a meaning different from what it means to their parents. ”
Ans. Small children scrounge heaps of garbage. They expect to get some coin, note or valuable thing in it.
Sometimes they find a rupee or even a ten rupee note. This gives the hope of finding more. They search it
excitedly. For children, garbage is wrapped in wonder. For the elders it is a means of survival since. Thus,
garbage has two different meanings.
Q. Saheb is not happy working at the tea stall – comment.
A. Saheb is not really happy working at the tea-stall because working for a master meant sacrificing his
freedom and his “carefree look”. Even though the job at the tea-stall pays him 800 rupees and all his meals,
he seems less contented than before. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry
with ease earlier. He is even away from his dream and doesn't go to school which he wanted to do. He was
no longer his own master and had to work according to the whims and fancies of the tea stall owner. He had
lost his freedom.
Q. “She still has bangles on her wrist but no light in her eyes.” What exactly does the author want to
convey through this?
Ans. ‘She’ is an elderly woman who became a bride long ago. Since her husband, an old man with a flowing
beard is still alive, she still has bangles on her wrist. She has, however, not enjoyed even one full nteal in her
entire lifetime. So, there is no light in her eyes. This is just a comment on the abject poverty and helplessness
of the bangle-makers.
Q. 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.—have been the symbol of ‘suhaag’ and the auspiciousness of
marriage in our country for centuries. It’s also a fashion statement for young and old women in today’s world.
These glass bangles of varied shades decorating the wrist of a woman provide not only a visual treat, but also
music of their own. These bangles spread joy and happiness in the lives of women. Ironically, however, these
women do not realise that the creators of these gorgeous bangles themselves are leading a miserable life.
After
nearly 60 years of independence, Firozabad, the centre of the bangle industry, is an underdeveloped,
backward town with no infrastructure or basic amenities. The city is like a dumping ground. The glass
furnaces where the workers make brackets are ill-lit and low-ventilated, high-temperature dingy stoves.
People here don’t even have one frugal meal a day. To add to the misery, all of them lose their eyes at a
young age and live in a dark world for the rest of the world.
Q. How is the line ‘few airplanes fly over Firozabad’ symbolically significant?
A. The author finds a spark of motivation in Mukesh, who is quite determined to realize his dream of
becoming a motor mechanic. He’s ready to go to a garage far from his home. The author asks if he ever
dreams of flying a plane-he is embarrassed by the question, and Mukesh answers in the negative. He is
satisfied with the more tangible and attainable dream of the fast-moving cars he saw on the streets every day.
Airplanes symbolize something distant, just like a far-fetched dream—the Firozabad people were not
exposed to such great dreams.
Q. Why is Mukesh realistic about his dream?
A. Doing anything other than what his generations have been doing needs courage. He intends to do
something other than what his forefathers have been doing. It is his courage which shows that Mukesh can
realise his dream. Moreover, he has a very realistic dream which does not seem beyond him.
Q. How does Mukesh's sister-in-law show patriarchy and inequality in the treatment of women?
A. The author’s visit to Mukesh’s house reveals patriarchy and inequality in the treatment of men and women.
We find there that women are still assigned stereotypical gender roles such as being in charge of household
chores and care-giving, as seen with Mukesh's sister-in-law that women need to respect the older men in the
family by covering their faces.
Q. “The young men echo the lament of their elders.” What do you think is the common complaint?
How has it affected their lives?
Ans. The bangle-makers of Firozabad are quite poor. They do not have enough money to do anything except
carry on the business of making bangles. Some even do not have enough to pacify their hunger. Building a
house for the family is an achievement for them. Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and
the ability to dream.
Q. Why do you do this?" I ask Saheb whom I encounter every morning scrounging for gold in the
garbage dumps of my neighborhood. 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. "I have nothing else to do," he mutters, looking away.
"Go to school," I say glibly, realizing immediately how hollow the advice must sound.
"There is no school in my neighborhood. When they build one, I will go." (Lost Spring)
(i) Choose the correct option.
The expression 'scrounging for gold' refers to
(A) searching for gold items.
(B) looking for something that can fetch money.
(C) rummaging the garbage.
(D) digging to find food to eat.
Answer. (B) looking for something that can fetch money
(ii) The influence of nature in Saheb's life was that it
(A) brought prosperity
(B) yielded food for them
(C) gave them home
(D) brought disaster
Answer. (D) brought disaster
(iii) Complete the sentence with an appropriate word.
Saheb's conversation with the narrator draws __________ of readers towards Saheb
Answer. Attention/Sympathy (Answers might vary)
(iv) Explain one inference that can be drawn from the line "...... realizing how hollow the advice must sound".
Answer. One inference that can be drawn from the line, “realizing how hollow the advice must sound" is that
the advice was very unrealistic and impractical because the narrator suggested Saheb to go to school despite
his circumstances.
(v) The expression 'when they build one, I will go' indicates Saheb's ________ to go to school.
Answer. Desire
(vi) State whether the following statement is TRUE or FALSE.
... his home is not even a distant dream' states that Saheb sees his home often in his dream.
Answer. False
Q. Give a brief account of the life and activities of the Bangladeshi squatters like Saheb-e-Alam.
Ans. Seemapuri is a place on the periphery of Delhi, yet miles away from it metaphorically. Squatters who
came from Bangladesh way back in 1971 live here. Saheb’s family is one of them. Seemapuri was then a
wilderness. It still is, but it is no longer empty. Nearly 10,000 ragpickers live there in structures of mud, with
roofs of tin and tarpaulin. These shanties are devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. These people have
lived there for more than thirty years without an identity or permit. They have got ration cards that enable
them to buy grains and get their names on voters’ lists. For them food is more important for survival than an
identity. The women put on tattered saris. They left their fields as they gave them no grain. They pitch their
tents wherever they find food. Ragpicking is the sole means of their survival.
It has acquired the proportions of a fine art for them. Garbage to them is gold. It provides them their daily
bread and a roof over the heads. Most of the barefoot ragpickers roam the streets early in the morning and
finish their activities by noon. They seem to carry the plastic bag lightly over their shoulders. They are clothed
in discolored shirts and shorts and denied the opportunity of schooling.
Q. “The cry of not having money to do anything except carry on the business of making bangles, not
even enough to eat, rings in every home. The young men echo the lament of their elders. Little has
moved with time, it seems, in Firozabad.” Comment on the hardships of the banglemakers of
Firozabad with special emphasis on the forces that conspire against them and obstruct their
progress.
Ans. The bangle-makers of Firozabad are bom in poverty, live in poverty and die in poverty. For
generations these people have been engaged in this trade—working around hot furnaces with high
temperature, welding and soldering glass to make bangles. In spite of hard labour throughout the day, the
return is meagre. Some of them have to sleep with empty, aching stomachs. Others do not have enough to
eat. Whatever they do get is not delicious or nourishing.
The stinking lanes of their shanty town are choked with garbage. Their hovels have crumbling walls,
wobbly doors and no windows. These are overcrowded with humans and animals.
Poverty and hunger, social customs and traditions, stigma of caste and the intrigues of powerful lobby that
thrives on their labour combine to keep them poor, uneducated and hungry. The moneylenders, the
middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians—all are ranged against
them. Children are engaged in illegal and hazardous work. Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all
initiative and ability to dream. They are unable to organise themselves into cooperative due to lack of a
leader and fear of ill-treatment at the hands of the police. They seem to carry the burden that they can’t put
down. They can talk but not act to improve their lot.