The lost spring
Question 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 own master.
Question 2. Is it possible for Mukesh to realize his dream? Justify
your answer? (All India 2000)
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.
Question 3. What does the title, ‘Lost Spring’ convey?
Answer: The title ‘Lost Spring’ conveys how millions of children in India lose
out on living the ‘spring’ of their lives, that is their childhood. The 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.
Question 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.
Question 5. Who is Mukesh? What is his dream?
Answer: Mukesh is a child labourer in a glass factory in Firozabad. Belonging
to a family of bangle makers, he shows no fascination towards bangle-
making and insists on being his own master. He dreams of becoming a motor
mechanic. He desires to go to a garage and get the required training for this
job but he didn’t have enough money .
Question 6. Is Saheb happy working at the tea stall? Why/ Why not?
Answer: No, 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. He is no longer his own master and is bound
and burdened by the steel canister he now has to carry.
Question 7. 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.
Question 8. Garbage has two different meanings—one for the
children and another for the adults. Comment. (Comptt. All India
2012)
Answer: For the children garbage has a different meaning from what it
means for the adults. For the children it 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 more. But for the
elders it is a means of survival.
Question 9. 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.
Question 10. Survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. , Comment.
Answer: Survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Over the years it has
acquired the proportions of a fine art. For the slum dwellers of Seemapuri,
rag-picking is their daily bread, it gives them the roof over their heads and is
the very means for their survival.
Question 11. A young man in Ferozabad is burdened under the
baggage of two worlds. What are they?
Answer: 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.
Question 12. 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 in Bangladesh and migrate to
India, looking for gold in the big city where they now live.
Question 13. Whom does Anees Jung blame for the sorry plight of
the bangle makers’?
Answer: Anees Jung blames the family of the bangle makers, who are
caught in a web of poverty, burdened by the stigma of the caste in which
they are born and the vicious circle of the sahukars, the middlemen, the
policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians for the
sorry plight of the bangle makers.
Question 14. 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 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.
