The Lost Spring Summary

Summary of the Lesson “the Lost Spring – Stories of stolen Childhood” 

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 labour 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. The first encounter is with a rag picker boy named Saheb – E – Alam who
migrated from Bangladesh in 1971 and lives in Seemapuri in Delhi. These ragpicker
children look for ‘valuables’ in the garbage – things like a coin or torn shoes which are
as precious as ‘gold’ for them.
They could hardly manage some food for themselves, other things like identity,
education, shoes and sports are their unfulfilled dreams. Their parents scrounged the
garbage searching for things that helped them survive – afford food, clothing and
shelter for the family. The children hunted through the garbage heaps looking for
things which could partially fulfil their unfulfilled dreams.
One day the writer saw the boy, holding a steel can, going towards the milk booth. He
had got a job at a tea stall. He was happy that he would get eight hundred rupees and
all the meals. The writer noticed that Saheb had lost the freedom of being his own
master which he had enjoyed as a rag picker.
The second boy was Mukesh who belonged to a family of bangle makers in Firozabad.
The boy had a dream of becoming a car mechanic. On the contrary, his family was
traditionally engaged in bangle making, although the profession harmed them
physically and they hardly earned any money out of it.
Still, no one dared to dream of doing something else due to the fear of the police and
the middlemen. The family elders were content that other than teaching the art of
bangle–making to their children, they had been able to build them a house to live in.
The boy wanted to be a car mechanic. Cars were all that Mukesh had seen on the
roads of his town and so, he could not dream any further.

Theme of the Lesson

The sad position of poor children who are forced to have a wretched life and forgo
the fun times of childhood due to their social circumstances is the subject of the
story “Lost Spring.” These children are compelled to labour from an early age and are
not given the opportunity to pursue an education. Anees Jung, the writer, makes a
concerted effort to end child labour. She advocates for government enforcement of
strict laws prohibiting child work as well as enforce the education of children. The
word was spread so that child exploitation might be stopped and all children could
enjoy their happy, springtime days. She talks about her encounter with a slum dweller
kid named Saheb-e-Alam who is a ragpicker and wishes to play tennis and go to a
school. However, these wishes remain unfulfilled. Another boy named Mukesh hails
from a family of bangle makers from Firozabad. Their lives are miserable because the
profession does not provide a good livelihood and harms them physically too. The boy
dreams to do something different but his dreams are restricted to the life that he
has seen in his hometown. He aspires to become a car mechanic. 

The Lost Spring Explanation Notes

 
Story 1 – ‘Sometimes I find a Rupee in the garbage’

 
Passage: “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.
Word and Meaning
Scrounging – searching for
Amidst – in the middle of
Explanation of the above Passage:  Every morning, the writer sees a young
ragpicker boy who visits the garbage dump near her house and searches for ‘gold’ in
it. The writer says that he searches for ‘gold’ ironically because although the garbage
dump is full of useless, thrown away things, still he shuffles it so minutely as if he will
get something as precious as ‘gold’ from it. The boy’s name is Saheb. His home in
Dhaka was in the middle of lush green fields. They had left it many years ago and he
does not remember it anymore. His mother had told him that there were many storms
that destroyed their homes and fields. So, they left home and shifted to the cities in
search of ‘gold’. The writer again says, “looking for gold in the big city”. Gold here
refers to something precious which was not available in their hometown. Things like
shoes, money, bags, etc. for the children and food, clothing, shelter as means of
survival for their parents. The boy searches for such precious things in the garbage
dumps. One day the writer questions Saheb and asks him the reason for shuffling
through the garbage.
Passage
“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.”
“If I start a school, will you come?” I ask, half-joking.
Word and Meaning
Mutters – to speak in a low voice
Glibly – speaking or spoken in a confident way, but without careful thought or honesty
Hollow – meaningless
Explanation of the above Passage: Saheb replies to the writer that he has nothing
else to do other than rag picking. The writer suggests that he should go to school.
She realizes that her advice is meaningless for the poor boy. He replies that there
are no schools in the area where he lives. He also assures her that he will go to school
when one is built near his house. The writer asks him jokingly that if she opened a
school would he attend it.
Passage  “Yes,” he says, smiling broadly. A few days later I see him running up to me.
“Is your school ready?”
“It takes longer to build a school,” I say, embarrassed at having made a promise that
was not meant. But promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak world.
Word and Meaning
Embarrassed – feeling ashamed
abound – exist in large numbers
bleak – empty
Explanation of the above Passage: Saheb says that he would join the writer’s school
and after a few days, he runs up to her to ask whether her school is ready. The
writer replied that it takes a lot of time to build a school. She felt ashamed at
making a false promise. She had said this as a joke and had never intended to open a
school, so she felt ashamed of herself. Saheb was not hurt because he was used to
such false promises as they existed in large numbers in his empty world. He was
surrounded by such false promises made by everyone around him. His world was empty
as no promise made to Saheb was ever fulfilled.

Passage: After months of knowing him, I ask him his name. “Saheb-e-Alam,” he

announces. He does not know what it means. If he knew its meaning — lord of the
universe — he would have a hard time believing it. Unaware of what his name
represents, he roams the streets with his friends, an army of barefoot boys who
appear like the morning birds and disappear at noon. Over the months, I have come to
recognize each of them.
he would have a hard time believing it – it would be difficult for him to believe that
his name meant ‘the Lord of the Universe’
Word and Meaning
barefoot – wearing nothing in the feet
Explanation of the above Passage: The writer had known Saheb for a few months
when she asked him his name. He replied as if he was making an announcement that
his name was Saheb – E – Alam. The writer thought that the boy did not know the
meaning of his name and if he came to know that his name meant “Lord of the
Universe” he would not be able to believe it. His name was opposite to his life. He
went around the streets with a group of friends. It was like an army of boys who did
not wear any footwear. They appeared in the morning like the morning birds and
disappeared at noon. The writer could recognize all of them as she had been seeing
them for the past few months.
Passage:
“Why aren’t you wearing chappals?” I ask one.
|“My mother did not bring them down from the shelf,” he answers simply.
  
The writer asked one of them that why was he not wearing any footwear. The boy
simply replied that his mother did not get them down from the shelf. As they were
beyond his reach, he did not wear them

“Even if she did he will throw them off,” adds another who is wearing shoes that do
not match. When I comment on it, he shuffles his feet and says nothing. “I want
shoes,” says a third boy who has never owned a pair all his life. Travelling across the
country I have seen children walking barefoot, in cities, on village roads. It is not lack
of money but a tradition to stay barefoot, is one explanation. I wonder if this is only
an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty.
Word and Meaning
Shuffles – slides them over each other
excuse – a reason to justify a fault
perpetual state of poverty – never-ending condition of being poor
Explanation of the above Passage: Another boy who was wearing a different shoe in
each foot said that even if his mother would have given him the footwear, he would
have thrown it away. He meant that the boy was not wearing footwear because he did
not want to wear one. The writer asked the second boy the reason for wearing a
different shoe in each foot. He did not reply and shuffled his feet as he tried to hide
the shoes. A third boy spoke that he was eager to get a pair of shoes as he had never
owned one all his life. The writer takes the example of shoes to highlight the
condition of these boys. They search the garbage dumps looking for such precious
things. She further tells us that as she travelled across the country, she had seen
many children walking barefoot in the cities as well as the villages. They reasoned
that they were barefoot not due to lack of money to buy footwear, but being
barefoot was a tradition for them. The writer wondered and concluded that the
reason of it being a tradition was a mere excuse to hide the fact that they were so
poor that they could not afford footwear.
Passage: I remember a story a man from Udipi once told me. As a young boy he would
go to school past an old temple, where his father was a priest. He would stop briefly
at the temple and pray for a pair of shoes. Thirty years later I visited his town and
the temple, which was now drowned in an air of desolation. In the backyard, where
lived the new priest, there were red and white plastic chairs. A young boy dressed in
a grey uniform, wearing socks and shoes, arrived panting and threw his school bag on a
folding bed. Looking at the boy, I remembered the prayer another boy had made to
the goddess when he had finally got a pair of shoes, “Let me never lose them.” The
goddess had granted his prayer. Young boys like the son of the priest now wore shoes.
But many others like the ragpickers in my neighborhood remain shoeless
Word and Meaning
Desolation – the state of being empty
Panting – taking short and quick breathes
Explanation of the above Passage: The writer narrates a story told to her by a man
from Udipi. (Udipi is a town in Karnataka). When he was a young boy, he would walk to
his school. On the way, he would cross a temple where his father worked as a priest.
He would stop at the temple and pray to God to bless him with a pair of shoes. After
thirty years the writer visited the town and the temple. Now the place was nearly
empty. The new priest lived in the backyard of the temple. Plastic chairs in red and
white colour were kept there. A young boy came running. He was wearing grey
coloured school uniform, socks and shoes. He had a school bag hung on his shoulders.
He threw it on the bed and ran away. The writer wants to say that the financial
position of the priest at the temple had improved over the last thirty years. Now, he
could afford shoes for this children. She was reminded of another boy who got a pair
of shoes. He prayed to the goddess that he may never lose the shoes that he had got.
The goddess had granted his prayer as the boy never lost his footwear. This shows us
that the underprivileged value anything that they get because they have been longing
for it.
 
 
Passage: My acquaintance with the barefoot ragpickers leads me to Seemapuri, a
place on periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically. Those who live
here are squatters who came from Bangladesh back in 1971. Saheb’s family is among
them. Seemapuri was then a wilderness. It still is, but it is no longer empty. In
structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or
running water, live 10,000 ragpickers.
Word and Meaning
Acquaintance – contact
periphery- outer area
metaphorically–symbolically
squatters – a person who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited building or unused land
wilderness- a wasteland
tarpaulin- heavy-duty waterproof cloth
Explanation of the above Passage: The writer describes the area where these rag
picker boys live. Seemapuri, located on the outskirt of Delhi was very different from
the capital of the country. In 1971 when these rag pickers had migrated from
Bangladesh, the area had been a wasteland. Seemapuri was still a wasteland but now it
was not empty as almost ten thousand rag pickers lived there in structures made of
mud, with roofs made of thin sheets of tin or plastic material called tarpaulin. There
was no sewage, drainage or running water facility in Seemapuri. They lived in
unhygienic conditions. It was a piece of wasteland where the garbage of the city was
collected. These people had started living there illegally.
Passage: They have lived here for more than thirty years without an identity, without
permits but with ration cards that get their names on voters’ lists and enable them to
buy grain. Food is more important for survival than an identity. “If at the end of the
day we can feed our families and go to bed without an aching stomach, we would
rather live here than in the fields that gave us no grain,” say a group of women in
tattered saris when I ask them why they left their beautiful land of green fields and
rivers.
Word and Meaning
Permits – legal documents
Tattered – torn
Explanation of the above Passage: The ragpickers had been living illegally in
Seemapuri for the last thirty years. They have occupied the area without government
permission or ownership. The politicians of the area have provided them ration cards
and voter identity cards. They got grocery for their family through these ration
cards and in return, they cast their votes in favour of the politician who had helped
them. The writer asked a group of women who were wearing torn saris that why did
they leave their homes in Dhaka. They replied that if they were able to satisfy the
hunger of their families and sleep well at night, they were happier to live in
Seemapuri than their fields in Dhaka which were ruined and gave them no food.
 
Passage: Wherever they find food, they pitch their tents that become transit homes.
Children grow up in them, becoming partners in survival. And survival in Seemapuri
means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art.
Garbage to them is gold. It is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a
leaking roof. But for a child it is even more.
Word and Meaning
Transit homes – a temporary home
Explanation of the above Passage: These people travelled in search of food and
wherever they found it, they set up temporary homes and started living there. Their
children kept on growing there and gradually, they also started helping their parents
in seeking means of survival. For those who lived in Seemapuri, the means of survival
was rag picking. As they had been doing it for many years, they became trained at rag
picking and did it well. For the rag pickers the garbage was as precious as gold. These
families searched the garbage dumps and got things which they sold to fund their
food. They gathered torn or damaged sheets which were used to cover the roof of
their homes. These did not cover them well but still provided them with some
protection. For the children, the garbage dumps were more than a means of survival.
Passage: “I sometimes find a rupee, even a ten-rupee note,” Saheb says, his eyes
lighting up. When you can find a silver coin in a heap of garbage, you don’t stop
scrounging, for there is hope of finding more. It seems that for children, garbage has
a meaning different from what it means to their parents. For the children it is
wrapped in wonder, for the elders it is a means of survival.
Word and Meaning
Lighting up – show joy and happiness
Explanation of the above Passage:  Saheb was happy to say that sometimes he
found a rupee and even a ten – rupee note in the dump. As one often finds even a
silver coin in the garbage dump, he kept on searching hoping to find more. For the
children, the garbage dump was a means of fulfilling their dreams although partially
while for their parents, it was a means of aiding survival by providing the basics –
food, clothing and shelter.

Passage: One winter morning I see Saheb standing by the fenced gate of the
neighbourhood club, watching two young men dressed in white, playing tennis. “I like
the game,” he hums, content to watch it standing behind the fence. “I go inside when
no one is around,” he admits. “The gatekeeper lets me use the swing.”
Word and Meaning
Content – satisfied
Explanation of the above Passage: One winter morning the writer saw Saheb
standing by the fence of a club. He was watching a tennis game being played by two
young men. Saheb liked the game but could not play it. He told the writer that he
went inside the club when it would be closed. He was allowed to take swings by the
guard there.
Passage: Saheb too is wearing tennis shoes that look strange over his discolored
shirt and shorts. “Someone gave them to me,” he says in the manner of an explanation.
The fact that they are discarded shoes of some rich boy, who perhaps refused to
wear them because of a hole in one of them, does not bother him. For one who has
walked barefoot, even shoes with a hole is a dream come true. But the game he is
watching so intently is out of his reach.
Word and Meaning
Discarded – thrown away
Bother – worry
Explanation of the above Passage: The writer saw that Saheb was also wearing
tennis shoes. They did not look appropriate with his dress which was worn out and had
faded. He told the writer in an attempt to justify himself that someone gave him the
shoes. She however figured out that he had got them from a garbage dump. They
must have been thrown away by a boy from a rich family as he did not want to wear
them anymore. Probably they had a hole or two in them due to which he did not want
to wear them. On the contrary, Saheb was not bothered by this fact and had no
problem wearing them as he could not afford anything better than that. He walked
barefoot and to wear a shoe even with a hole was like a dream for him. Although due
to the garbage dump, Saheb’s dream of wearing shoes had been partially fulfilled but
his desire to play tennis would never be fulfilled.
Passage: This morning, Saheb is on his way to the milk booth. In his hand is a steel
canister. “I now work in a tea stall down the road,” he says, pointing in the distance.
“I am paid 800 rupees and all my meals.” Does he like the job? I ask. His face, I see,
has lost the carefree look. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he
would carry so
light over his shoulder. The bag was his. The canister belongs to the man who owns
the tea shop. Saheb is no longer his own master.
Explanation of the above Passage: One morning the writer met Saheb who was on
his way to the milk booth. He was holding a steel container. He told her that he had
got a job at the nearby tea stall. He would earn eight hundred rupees a month and get
meals too. The writer asked him if he liked the job as she could see that he had lost
the carefree look. As now Saheb was working for someone else and was carrying his
master’s container, he was burdened with responsibility. Earlier, as a rag picker,
Saheb would carry his own bag and was his own master. Now, he was no longer his own
master.
Story 2 – “I want to drive a car”
Passage: Mukesh insists on being his own master. “I will be a motor mechanic,” he
announces.
The writer met a boy named Mukesh who aspired to become a motor mechanic.
“Do you know anything about cars?” I ask.
She asked him if he knew anything about cars.
“I will learn to drive a car,” he answers, looking straight into my eyes. His dream
looms like a mirage amidst the dust of streets that fill his town Firozabad, famous
for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. It is the
centre of India’s glass-blowing industry where families have spent generations
working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for all the women in the land it
seems.
Word and Meaning
looking straight into my eyes – with confidence and determination
looms like a mirage – seems that it will be true in the future but actually it will not
be so
amidst – in the middle of
glass-blowing industry – industry related to making glass
furnaces – a closed room or container where heat is produced
welding – the process of joining metal or glass pieces by heating them
Explanation of the above Passage: The boy was confident and replied that he would
learn to drive a car. His dream was far away from reality and although the boy was
confident, he would succumb to the societal pressures. He lived in Firozabad which
was famous for glass bangles. The writer felt that the boy’s dreams would not
materialize and gradually get influenced by the dusty streets of Firozabad. She
wanted to say that as every family in the town of Firozabad was involved in the glass
bangle industry, so would Mukesh do with the passage of time. She tells us that
Firozabad was the main town of India for the glass – blowing industry. The families
had been involved in working at furnaces, welding glass, and making bangles for
generations. They made so many bangles that it seemed that they made bangles for
all the women of the world.
Passage: Mukesh’s family is among them. None of them know that it is illegal for
children like him to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells
without air and light; that the law, if enforced, could get him and all those 20,000
children out of the hot furnaces where they slog their daylight hours, often losing
the brightness of their eyes.
Word and Meaning
Dingy – dark, dim
Slog – work hard
Daylight hours – hours of the day when there is sunlight
Brightness of their eyes – here, refers to the power to see
Explanation of the above Passage: Mukesh’s family was also involved in the
profession of glass bangle – making. They were not aware of the law. They did not
know that it was unlawful to force children to work in such glass furnaces. The work
places were hot, dark closed rooms without ventilation. The writer felt that if the law
would come into force, it would rescue almost twenty thousand children from these
inhuman places where they were forced to work hard during the daytime. They often
ended up losing their eyesight also.
Passage: Mukesh’s eyes beam as he volunteers to take me home, which he proudly
says is being rebuilt. We walk down stinking lanes choked with garbage, past homes
that remain hovels with crumbling walls, wobbly doors, no windows, crowded with
families of humans and animals coexisting in a primeval state. He stops at the door of
one such house, bangs a wobbly iron door with his foot, and pushes it open.
Word and Meaning
Beam – shine brightly
Volunteers – freely offers to do something
Stinking – bad smell
Choked – blocked
Hovels – slums
Crumbling – falling down
Wobbly – unsteady
Coexisting – present at the same time and place
Primeval – prehistoric
Bangs – hits
Explanation of the above Passage – Mukesh was happy as he took the writer to his
home. He felt proud as he informed her that it was being renovated. They walked
down streets which were full of garbage and gave foul smell. The streets were lined
with slums which were unsteady. The walls were falling apart, the doors were
unsteady, there were no windows and were full of families where people lived along
with animals. They reminded the writer of the prehistoric man who lived just like
animals. Mukesh stopped in front of one such door, hit it hard with his foot and
pushed it open.
Passage: We enter a half-built shack. In one part of it, thatched with dead grass, is
a firewood stove over which sits a large vessel of sizzling spinach leaves. On the
ground, in large aluminium platters, are more chopped vegetables. A frail young woman
is cooking the evening meal for the whole family. Through eyes filled with smoke she
smiles. She is the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother. Not much older in years, she has
begun to command respect as the bahu, the daughter-in-law of the house, already in
charge of three men — her husband, Mukesh and their father.
Word and Meaning
Shack – a roughly built hut
Thatched – covered with dry grass
Vessel – container for cooking food
Sizzling – make a hissing sound when frying or cooking
Platters – large plates
Chopped – cut finely
Frail – thin, weak
eyes filled with smoke – her eyes are filled with the smoke coming out of the
firewood stove
command respect – she is worthy and so, is respected
Explanation of the above Passage: The house where Mukesh lived was partially
constructed hut. In one corner was a firewood stove made with dead grass. A vessel
with spinach leaves was kept on it. on the ground There were more plates with
chopped vegetables in them. There was a thin, young woman cooking the evening meal
for the family. Her eyes were full of the smoke emanating from the stove but she
was still cheerful and smiled to see the writer. She was the wife of Mukesh’s elder
brother. Although she was not much older than Mukesh, she was a responsible person
and was worthy to get respect from the family as the daughter-in-law of the family.
She took care of three men – her husband, Mukesh and their father.
Passage: When the older man enters, she gently withdraws behind the broken wall
and brings her veil closer to her face. As custom demands, daughters-in-law must veil
their faces before male elders. In this case the elder is an impoverished bangle
maker. Despite long years of hard labour, first as a tailor, then a bangle maker, he
has failed to renovate a house, send his two sons to school. All he has managed to do
is teach them what he knows — the art of making bangles.

Word and Meaning

Withdraws – goes back
Veil – a piece of fine material worn by women to protect or hide the face, cover or
hide
Impoverished – very poor
Labour – hard work
Renovate – repair
Explanation of the above Passage: As Mukesh’s father entered the house, the
daughter-in-law hid behind the wall and covered her face behind her veil. It was a
tradition for the daughter-in-laws to hide their face in the presence of the older
male members of the family. The elder here was a poor bangle maker. He had worked
hard all his life – first as a tailor, then as a bangle maker. He was still not able to
either renovate the house or send his sons to school. He had just managed to teach
him the skill of making bangles.
Passage: “It is his karam, his destiny,” says Mukesh’s grandmother, who has watched
her own husband go blind with the dust from polishing the glass of bangles. “Can a
god-given lineage ever be broken?” she implies.
Word and Meaning
Destiny – fate
God-given lineage – here, a profession carried on through the generations of a
family – glass bangle making
Explanation of the above Passage: Mukesh’s grandmother justified her son by saying
that he was destined to make bangles as it had been their family profession. She had
seen her husband become blind due to the dust from polishing the glass bangles. She
said that their family had got this art of bangle making from God and so they had to
carry on the tradition.
 
Passage: Born in the caste of bangle makers, they have seen nothing but bangles —  in
the house, in the yard, in every other house, every other yard, every street in
Firozabad. Spirals of bangles — sunny gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink, purple,
every colour born out of the seven colours of the rainbow — lie in mounds in unkempt
yards, are piled on four-wheeled handcarts, pushed by young men along the narrow
lanes of the shanty town.
Word and Meaning
Yard – the open area at the back of the house
Mounds – heaps
Unkempt – not taken care of
Piled – kept one on top of the other
Shanty town – a town that is full of small, roughly built huts
Explanation of the above Passage: They were born in a particular caste which had to
follow the profession of bangle making. All their life they had just seen these glass
bangles. They were everywhere – in the backyard, in the next house, in their yard and
even in the streets of the town. There were huge spiral bunches of bangles in
different colours like gold, green, blue, pink, purple. There were bangles of all the
colours of the rainbow. Further, the writer says that there were bangles in the
neglected yards also. They were dumped on handcarts for sale. They were pushed by
men along the streets of Firozabad.
Passage: And in dark hutments, next to lines of flames of flickering oil lamps, sit boys
and girls with their fathers and mothers, welding pieces of coloured glass into circles
of bangles. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. That
is why they often end up losing their eyesight before they become adults.
Word and Meaning
Welding – joining
Explanation of the above Passage: The writer describes the environment where
these bangle makers work. They were small, dark huts. The children would sit next to
a line of oil lamps whose flames were unsteady. They, along with their parents joined
the pieces of coloured glass into circles called bangles. As they spent a lot of time in
the dark, their eyes would not adapt to the bright sunlight. Many of them lost their
eyesight before gaining adulthood.
Passage: Savita, a young girl in a drab pink dress, sits alongside an elderly woman,
soldering pieces of glass. As her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine,
I wonder if she knows the sanctity of the bangles she helps make. It symbolizes an
Indian woman’s suhaag, auspiciousness in marriage.
Word and Meaning
Drab – faded, colorless
Soldering – joining
Tongs – an instrument with two moveable arms joined at one end
Sanctity – the state of being sacred or holy
Auspiciousness – good omen
Explanation of the above Passage: There was a young girl by the name of Savita.
She wore a faded pink coloured dress. She was sitting with an elderly woman and they
were joining pieces of glass to make bangles. Her hands moved like a machine just like
the tongs of a machine. The writer wondered if Savita knew that bangles were
sacred. They were a good omen for a woman’s wifehood.
Passage: It will dawn on her suddenly one day when her head is draped with a red veil,
her hands dyed red with henna, and red bangles rolled onto her wrists. She will then
become a bride. Like the old woman beside her who became one many years ago. She
still has bangles on her wrist, but no light in her eyes.
Word and Meaning
Dawn on her – she will realize
Draped – covered
Explanation of the above Passage: She thought that Savita would realize this when
she would become a bride. That day she would cover her head with a red coloured veil,
colour her hands with henna and wear red coloured bangles on her wrist. The elderly
woman sitting next to Savita also became a bride many years ago. She was still
wearing the glass bangles but had lost her eyesight now.
Passage: “Ek waqt ser bhar khana bhi nahin khaya,” she says, in a voice drained of joy.
She has not enjoyed even one full meal in her entire lifetime — that’s what she has
reaped! Her husband, an old man with a flowing beard, says, “I know nothing except
bangles. All I have done is make a house for the family to live in.”
Word and Meaning
Ser – a unit of measuring quantity
Reaped – received as a benefit
Explanation of the above Passage: The elderly woman complained that she had not
eaten even a ser of food. Ser is a unit of measuring quantity. The woman wants to say
that they are so poor that they cannot eat enough food. That is the benefit that she
has received by adopting the profession of bangle-making. The woman’s husband has a
flowing beard. He says that he does not know anything other than bangle – making. All
that he has been able to accomplish is to make a house for his family to live in.
Passage: Hearing him, one wonders if he has achieved what many have failed in their
lifetime. He has a roof over his head!
Explanation of the above Passage: The writer wonders that probably the old man
has achieved something which many other people have not been able to achieve. At
least he has been able to secure a shelter for his family.
Passage: 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. Years of
mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and the ability to dream.
Word and Meaning
Rings – a sound which is repeated
Echo – repeat
Lament – complaint
Mind – numbing – boring
Toil – physical hard work done to earn a living
Explanation of the above Passage: This problem was prevalent in all the homes
which carried on the profession. They did not know anything else other than bangle-
making and it did not even provide them enough to eat. The young men who had
entered the traditional profession also had the same complaint. With the passing time
there was no improvement in their condition. As they had been doing hard work for a
countless number of years, they did not have any ability to do something else or to
dream of it.
Passage: “Why not organise yourselves into a cooperative?” I ask a group of young
men who have fallen into the vicious circle of middlemen who trapped their fathers
and forefathers. “Even if we get organised, we are the ones who will be hauled up by
the police, beaten and dragged to jail for doing something illegal,” they say. There is
no leader among them, no one who could help them see things differently. Their
fathers are as tired as they are.
Word and Meaning
Vicious – cruel
Hauled up – dragged, taken away
Explanation of the above Passage: The writer suggests them to form a cooperative.
She talked to a group of young men to get out of the clutches of the cruel middlemen
who had trapped their elders. The men said that if they dared to do something like
that, they would be dragged and beaten up by the police and sent to jail. Their acts
would be termed to be unlawful. The writer felt that as they had no leader, they
could not think of doing things differently. They all were so tired – the men and their
fathers.
Passage: They talk endlessly in a spiral that moves poverty to apathy to greed and to
injustice. Listening to them, I see two distinct worlds — one of the family, caught in a
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. Together they have imposed the baggage on the child
that he cannot put down. Before he is aware, he accepts it as naturally as his father.
To do anything else would mean to dare.
Word and Meaning
Spiral – here, a never-ending continuous process
Apathy – lack of concern
Greed – intense and selfish desire for something
Distinct – separate
Stigma – dishonor
Bureaucrats – government officials
Imposed – forced upon
Baggage – burden
To dare – do something courageous
Explanation of the above Passage: The men complained that it was a continuous
process. Their poor condition led to lack of concern for their problems. This made
them greedy and led to injustice. The writer envisioned that there were two separate
worlds – one was of such families who were stuck in poverty and the pressure of doing
the traditional profession according to the caste in which they were born. The other
world is a never-ending cycle of moneylenders, middlemen, policemen, law keepers,
government officials and politicians. Both of these worlds had forced the young boys
to follow the family traditions. The young boys get into the profession and become a
part of the vicious cycle even before they realize it. If they did anything else, it
meant that they were challenging these two worlds.
Passage: And daring is not part of his growing up. When I sense a flash of it in
Mukesh I am cheered. “I want to be a motor mechanic,’ he repeats. He will go to a
garage and learn. But the garage is a long way from his home. “I will walk,” he insists.
“Do you also dream of flying a plane?” He is suddenly silent. “No,” he says, staring at
the ground. In his small murmur there is an embarrassment that has not yet turned
into regret. He is content to dream of cars that he sees hurtling down the streets of
his town. Few airplanes fly over Firozabad.
Word and Meaning
Hurtling down – moving around
Explanation of the above Passage: The boys had not been reared up to be bold so
that they could dare to go against the system. The writer was happy to sense that
Mukesh had the spark in him. He repeated that he would be a motor mechanic. He
wanted to go to a garage and learn the job. The writer asked that as the garage was
at a distance from his home, Mukesh insisted that he would walk up to it. She asked
him if he dreamt of flying planes. The boy became silent and refused. He did not know
about them as he did not know about planes. Not many planes flew over Firozabad. As
he had only seen cars moving around in Firozabad, his dreams were restricted up to
them.
Think as you read
1. What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has
he come from?
A. Saheb is looking for any precious thing which he cannot afford to buy. Things like a
rupee, silver coin or a pair of shoes. He has come to the garbage dump in the writer’s
neighborhood. He lives in Seemapuri in Delhi and has come from Dhaka.
2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing
footwear?
A. The author says that they do not wear footwear because it is a tradition in their
families to remain barefoot.
3. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain.
A. Saheb is happy that he has got work at the tea stall. He will get eight hundred
rupees every month and his meals too.
4. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
A. Firozabad is famous for glass blowing industry.
5. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
A. People who work in the glass bangle industry lose their eyesight.
6. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
A. Mukesh dares to dream and has a way out of his situation. He aspires to become a
motor mechanic. On the other hand, his family does not dare to dream. They are too
tired and scared to do something to come out of their grim situation.
Understanding the text
Q1. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages
to cities?
A. People migrate from villages to cities in search of a better life. They want to earn
money so that they can lead a good life and rear their children in a better way. As
cities have more opportunities for work, this makes them migrate from the villages to
these big cities.
Q2. 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. Yes, I agree that the promises made to poor children are rarely fulfilled. In the
story the writer jokingly offers the rag picker boy to join a school that she would
open. In fact, she does not intend to open a school. She speaks mindlessly but the boy
takes it to be true and later asks her if the school has opened. There are many such
hollow promises in the boy’s life because the person who makes the promise never
intends to fulfil it.
Q3. What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of
Firozabad in poverty?
A. The writer tells us that the bangle – makers of Firozabad are poverty – stricken.
They are burdened by the fact of the particular caste in which they are born – bangle
– makers. They have to continue the traditional profession. Further, the society has
formed a harsh circle around them. The money – lenders, middlemen, policemen, law –
keepers, officers and politicians altogether form a barrier around them and tie them
in the grip of poverty. They cannot escape from it.
Q4. How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream?
A. Mukesh dared to dream and wanted to become a motor mechanic. He wanted to
drive cars too. He took the initial step by aspiring to do something different from
the family business. I think that Mukesh can realize his dream with determination
and hard work.
Q5. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
A. The poor bangle makers in Firozabad work in dangerous conditions. The furnaces
have very high temperatures and no ventilation. Hence, they are prone to ailments like
lung cancer. While polishing the bangles, the dust harms their eyes and many lose
their vision. They remain in dark for long hours and so are unable to see during the
daytime.
Q6. Why should child labour be eliminated and how?
A. Forcing a child to work is a crime. This is so in order to prevent exploitation of
children. If forced to work, Children cannot enjoy their childhood. They cannot get
proper education. Also, when they are forced into hazardous works, they get ailments
at a young age. This destroys their future. Their parents overlook all these facts as
they need money. So, the government has to become proactive and take measures to
check child labour and enforce the law strictly.
This Page includes Notes of the Chapter The Lost Spring
Lost Spring Extract based questions
1. “Why do you do this?” I ask Saheb whom I encounter every morning scrounging for
gold in the garbage dumps of my neighbourhood. 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.
1. What is the boy doing?
a. Cleaning utensils
b. Sifting through the garbage
c. making tea
d. Playing with friends
A. b
2. ‘Gold’ is which figure of speech?
a. Rhyme
b. Imagery
c. metaphor
d. Pun
A. c
3. Find a synonym of ‘in the middle of’
A. amidst
4. Which ‘big city’ do they live in?
a. Dhaka
b. Delhi
c. Mumbai
d. Kolkata
A. b
2. “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.”
“If I start a school, will you come?” I ask, half-joking. “Yes,” he says, smiling broadly.
A few days later I see him running up to me. “Is your school ready?”
“It takes longer to build a school,” I say, embarrassed at having made a promise that
was not meant. But promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak world.
1. What does glibly mean?
a. Spoken confidently but without careful thought
b. Done with confidence and careful thought
c. spoken in a serious manner
d. Careless attitude
A. a
2. A few days later I see him running up to me. “Is your school ready?”
This shows
a. The boy wants to go to school
b. The boy is showing her down
c. the boy does not want to work and wants to escape to a school
d. The boy likes her
A. a
3. Why is the narrator embarrassed?
A. She is embarrassed because she made a false promise. She did not intend to open
a school but the boy took her seriously.
4. Why does she say that promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak
world?
A. The poor boy’s life is full of sadness. He sees many things around him which are
like the writer’s promise but he never gets anything. So his life is not encouraging and
it is full of false promises.
3. My acquaintance with the barefoot ragpickers leads me to Seemapuri, a place on
the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically. Those who live here are
squatters who came from Bangladesh back in 1971. Saheb’s family is among them.
Seemapuri was then a wilderness. It still is, but it is no longer empty. In structures
of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or running water,
live 10,000 ragpickers. They have lived here for more than thirty years without an
identity, without permits but with ration cards that get their names on voters’ lists
and enable them to buy grain.
1. “ a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it” means –
i. Semapuri is not in Delhi
ii. Seemapuri is in Delhi
iii. Seemapuri is different from the rest of Delhi
iv. Seemapuri is near Delhi
a. i, ii, iii, iv
b. ii, iii
c. i, ii
d. iii, iv
A. b
2. Find a synonym of outskirts
A. Periphery
3. Which of the following best describes a squatter?
a. One who lives on a land not belonging to him
b. One who sits cross legged
c. One who spends all the money he has
d. None of these
A. a
4. Why do they have ration cards only?
A. The ragpickers aim at mere survival and so the authorities provide them ration
cards through which they get cheap ration. Other than that, these people never ask
for any permit or identity card.
5. Find a synonym of without
A. Devoid
4. And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired
the proportions of a fine art. Garbage to them is gold. It is their daily bread, a roof
over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. But for a child it is even more.
1. What ‘more’ does the garbage mean for the children?
A. It proves to be a means to fulfil their desires by providing torn shoes, a coin, old
clothes and other such wonders.
2. Why is ragpicking an art?
A. Ragpicking is an art because the ragpicker should have an eye to search the
valuable things in a heap of garbage
3. “It is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof.” This
statement means –
1. The roof is made of garbage
2. The bread is made of recycled garbage
3. They earn money for bread by selling things found in the garbage
a. 1, 2, 3
b. 1 only
c. 3 only
d. None of these
A. c
5. His dream looms like a mirage amidst the dust of streets that fill his town
Firozabad, famous for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in
making bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry where families have
spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for all the
women in the land it seems.
1. Mirage here means _____
a. An aeroplane
b. A hope that cannot be achieved
c. An image seen in hot weather in the deserts
d. none of these
A. b
2. Why every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles?
a. They don’t know any other work
b. Firozabad is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry
c. They don’t dare do anything else
d. All of these
A. D
3. Why does the author say that “making bangles for all the women in the land it
seems”?
A. She says this because in Firozabad numerous glass bangles are made. It appears
that all the women buy and wear bangles made here.
4. Find a synonym of fireplace.
A. Furnace
6. He stops at the door of one such house, bangs a wobbly iron door with his foot, and
pushes it open. We enter a half-built shack. In one part of it, thatched with dead
grass, is a firewood stove over which sits a large vessel of sizzling spinach leaves. On
the ground, in large aluminium platters, are more chopped vegetables. A frail young
woman is cooking the evening meal for the whole family. Through eyes filled with
smoke she smiles. She is the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother.
1. Wobbly means ______
a. Strong
b. wooden
c. trembling
d. All of these
A. c
2. Shack means ______
a. Shop
b. Hut
c. room
d. None of these
A. b
3. Find a synonym of ‘weak’
A. Frail
4. Why are her eyes filled with smoke?
A. Her eyes are filled with smoke because she is cooking on the firewood stove which
is emitting smoke.
7. “Why not organise yourselves into a cooperative?” I ask a group of young men who
have fallen into the vicious circle of middlemen who trapped their fathers and
forefathers. “Even if we get organised, we are the ones who will be hauled up by the
police, beaten and dragged to jail for doing something illegal,” they say. There is no
leader among them, no one who could help them see things differently. Their fathers
are as tired as they are.
1. Why will they be beaten by the police?
A. The police will beat them to stop them from organizing themselves into a
cooperative.
2. Hauled up means ________
a. To call to account for something
b. to stop
c. to criticize
d. To teach
A. a
3. They are tired of __________
1. Making bangles
2. The vicious circle of middlemen
3. Each other
a. 1, 2, 3
b. Only 1
c. Only 2
d. Only 3
A. c
4. Find a synonym of harsh
A. Vicious