Lesson 2: ‘The Lost Spring’

‘Stories of stolen childhood’

Exercises:
Question 1: Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that
follow briefly:
A. ”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 .”
i) Who is the speaker here? Whom is she describing?
ii) Rag picking for them has become a fine art. How?
iii) Why is garbage gold to them?
iv) Which figure of speech has been used in the line
“Garbage is gold to them?”
B. For the children it is wrapped in wonder, for their elders it is a
means of survival.
i) Name the lesson and its writer.
ii) Which poor people have been described in these lines?
iii) What does ‘it’ refer to here? How is ‘it‘ wrapped in wonder for
children?
iv) The elders value their profession of rag picking. Why?
C. 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 co-existing in a
primeval state .
i) Who are ’we’ here?
ii) Which town does the narrator visit and why?
iii) What are hovels? What is the disgusting sight that the narrator
sees in the dwellings of these poor people?
iv) What is she reminded of?
D. “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.”
i) Who are ‘they’ here?
 ii) What is the burden that they impose on the children of bangle
makers?
iii) Child labour is a punishable offence, yet these people are not
punished. Why?
iv) Which boy in the story challenges the status quo?
Question 2: Answer the following short questions in 30-40 words each.
(2 marks each)
i) Who is Sahib? Where does he live?
ii) What does he do to eke out his livelihood?
iii) What is his nationality? What forced them to leave their own
land?
iv) How does he embarrass the narrator one day?
v) What is his full name? What is ironical about his name?
vi) Poor children also dream. What did Sahib dream of?
vii)Even poor children have their self-respect. Give an example from
the text to substantiate it.
viii) Seemapuri is on the periphery of Delhi, yet miles away from it
, metaphorically. How?
ix) Why does Sahib dislike his job at the tea stall?
x) Who is Mukesh? Which family does he hail from?
xi) Mukesh’s grandmother talks of the god given lineage which
cannot be broken. Does Mukesh try to break it? How?
xii)What is a co-operative? Why can’t the bangle makers of
Firozabad organise themselves into it?
xiii) What does Mukesh dream of becoming?
Question 3: Long questions (120-150 words) (6 marks)
i)Compare and contrast Sahib and Mukesh.
ii)Both the rag pickers of Seemapuri and the bangle makers of
Firozabad live in abject poverty robbed of all amenities and benefits of a
decent and dignified living. How can their lot be ameliorated?
iii) Child labour is a blot on the face of our country. It is necessary to
eradicated it to ensure a dignified life and livelihood for the under
privileged children. Discuss it with the reference to ‘Lost Spring’