Lost spring
Short questions
Part 1
Q1. What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he come
from?
Ans. Saheb is looking for gold in the garbage dumps. He is in the neighbourhood of the author.
Saheb has come from Bangladesh. He Came with his mother in 1971. His house was set
amidst the green fields of Dhaka. Storms swept away their fields and homes. So they left the
country.
Q2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?
Ans. One explanation offered by the author is that it is a tradition to stay barefoot. It is not lack
of money. He wonders if this is only an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty. He
also remembers the story of a poor body who prayed to the goddess for a pair of shoes.
Q3. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain.
Ans. No, Saheb is not happy working at the tea-stall. He is no longer his own master. His face
has lost the carefree look. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry
so lightly over his shoulder. The bag was his. The canister belongs to the man who owns the
tea-shop.
Q4.Would you agree that promises made to the poor children are rarely kept? Why do you think
this happens in the incidents narrated in the text?
Ans. The promises made to the poor are rarely kept. The author asks Saheb half-joking,
whether he will come to her school if she starts one. Saheb agrees to do so. A few days later he
asks if the school is ready. The writer feels embarrassed at having made a promise that was not
meant. Promises like hers abound in every comer of their bleak world.
Part 2
Q1. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
Ans. The city of Firozabad is famous for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged
in making bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry. Families have spent
generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for the women in the land.
Q2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry?
Ans. Boys and girls with their fathers and mothers sit in dark hutments, next to lines of flames of
flickering oil lamps. They weld pieces of coloured glass into circles of bangles. Their eyes are
more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. They often end up losing eyesight before
they become adults. Even the dust from polishing the glass of bangles is injurious to eyes. Many
workers have become blind. The furnaces have very high temperature and therefore very
dangerous.
Q3.. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
Ans. Mukesh’s grandmother thinks that the god-given lineage can never be broken. Her son and
grandsons are bom in the caste of bangle makers. They have seen nothing but bangles.
Mukesh’s father has taught them what he knows—the art of making bangles. But Mukesh wants
to be a motor mechanic. He will go to a garage and learn, though the garage is far away from
his home.
Q4.What forces conspire to keep the workers in bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?
Ans. Certain forces conspire to keep the workers in bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty.
These include the moneylenders, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the
bureaucrats and the politicians. Together they impose a heavy burden on the child
Long Answer
Q.Why should child labour be eliminated and how?
Ans. Child labour should be eliminated because the children employed at tender age as i
domestic servants, dish-washers at road-side dhabas and in hazardous industries making glass
bangles, biris, crackers etc. lose the charm of the spring of their life. Their childhood is stolen.
Burdened by the responsibility of work, they become adults too soon. Most of them are
undernourished, ill-fed, uneducated, and poor. They have a stunted growth.
Child labour can be eliminated only through concerted efforts on the part of government
agencies, NGOs (Non-Government Organisations), co-operative societies and political leaders.
Mere passing of law will not help. Laws should be enacted faithfully. The children thrown out of
work should be rehabilitated and given proper food, clothes, education and pocket money. Their
feelings, thoughts and emotions should be respected. Let them enjoy sunshine and fresh air.
