ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT

HARSH JOHN

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

(Write from the textbook)

ABOUT THE CHAPTER

The Lost Spring summary describes the terrible condition of poor children. These children are
those who didn’t get to enjoy childhood because of the prevailing socio-economic condition in
this world. This is something that one can see all over the world. These children don’t have the
opportunity for schooling. Moreover, there is a lot of pressure on these children to enter into
labour early in life. These unfortunate children are forced into labour. This certainly denies them
education as well as the opportunity to have enjoyment. The author Anees Jung raises voice to
eliminate child labour. Jung does so by raising awareness regarding child education and strict
law enforcement against child labour. The call is to put an end to the exploitation of children.
This way the children will be able to enjoy the days of the spring and have fun.

GLOSSARY
Scrounging - Hunting, Foraging
Hollow - Meaningless, Empty
Embarrassed - Ashamed, Uneasy
Perpetual - Everlasting,Unending
Desolation - Isolation, Bleakness
Roam - Wander, Saunter
Periphery - Border, Margin
Wilderness - Wasteland, Wilds
Devoid - Lacking, Wanting
Sewage - Waste, Excrement
Crumbling - Collapsing,Dilapidating
Wobbly - Shaky, Rickety
Discarded - Abandoned,Forsaken
Intently - Attentively, Keenly
Dingy - Dark, Dirty
Loom - Hover, Overhang
Hovel - Shack, Hut
Primeval - Primitive, Aboriginal
Slog - Toil, Labour
Stinking - Reeking, Stenching
Sizzling - Boiling, Hot
Frail - Weak, Delicate
Renovate - Renew, Refurbish
Lineage - Hereditary pattern, Line of descent
Mounds - Heap, Pile
Unkempt - Untidy, Disordered
Shanty - Ugly dwelling
Flickering - Wavering, Twinkling
Drab - Dull, Discoloured
Sanctity - Sacredness, Holiness
Auspicious - Favourable, Opportune
Dawn - Emerge, Appear
Numb - Desensitize, Deaden
Haul - Pull, Drag
Stigma - Disgrace, Dishonour
Impose - Enforce, Compel
Regret - Remorse, Compunction
Hurtle - Rush, Spurt

Q&A

Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry?

Ans: The glass bangle industry of Firozabad employs children and they work in very unhealthy
and hazardous conditions. They are made to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures,
in dingy cells without air and light. Almost twenty thousand children work in the hot furnaces,
often losing the brightness of their eyes. Many workers become blind while polishing the glass
bangles. Many children lose their eyesight before they become adults.

2. Explain ‘For children, garbage has a meaning different from what it means to their parents’.
Ans: The small rag pickers scrounge heaps of garbage for some coin, note or valuable things.
Sometimes they do find a rupee or even a ten rupee note and so they hope to find more. The
children find it mysteriously wonderful package as their continuous search leads them to grab a
small fortune. But for the adults, it is a means of livelihood and is a compulsion to search
through the garbage. Hence, garbage has two different meanings.

3.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?
Ans: I agree that promises made to poor children are rarely kept. It is easy to say to poor
children that they should be in school but it is easier said than done. In the story “Lost Spring”
the narrator also makes a false promise to Saheb which he takes seriously.

4.What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing foot wear?
Ans Though the children say, it is not lack of money but a tradition to stay barefootyettravelling
across the country the author has observed children walking barefoot in cities and on village
roadsand she knows that this is only an excuse to explain a perpetual state of poverty.

5.Why does the steel canister seem heavier than the bag Saheb used to carry?
Ans: The steel canister seems heavier than the bag Saheb used to carry because the steel
canister that he carries belongs to the owner of the shop. He is no longer his own master. He is
a servant now, always at the beck and call of his master, following his orders.

6.How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
Ans Mukesh insists on being his own master. He wants to be a motor mechanic. Thoughhe has
seen poverty, dangers and sub-human living conditions of the glass bangle industry yet unlike
others who dare not think of doing anything else than continuing the task of bangle-making, he
has the guts to do what he aspire for, leaving a long time bound lineage of making bangles.

7.“His dream looms like a mirage…” Whose dream looms like a mirage? Why?
Ans: Mukesh’s dreams looms like a mirage because he belongs to the poor caste of bangle-
makers who have spent generations sitting around furnaces making bangles but in spite of their
long years of toil, they could never lead a prosperous life and so there are rare chances of
Mukesh’s dream getting fulfilled

Q8 Justify the title “Lost Spring.”

Ans: Literally “Lost Spring” denotes a season of freshness, energy, fragrance and vitality
which is lost. But here it has been associated with the lives of the rag-pickers and bangle-
makers. It suggests how these children even in a tender age when they should be carefree and
enjoying their lives, engage themselves in the breadwinning task. There is no childhood in their
childhood.

Q9 How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realize his dreams?

Ans: Mukesh can realize his dream by sticking to his aim, persevering hard to achieve it and
by not getting distracted by the hurdles that come in his way. Moreover, he can persuade his
parents to allow him to pursue a different goal.

Q10.What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in
poverty?
Ans: Grinding poverty, lack of awareness and education which keep them bound in the
shackles of emotion, tradition and the vicious circle of exploiters which never let them see that
there can be a way out of the drudgery, conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of
Firozabad in poverty.

Q11.“…Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically.”
Explain.
Ans: Though Seemapuri is on the periphery of Delhi yet they are poles apart from each-other.
Delhi is a metropolitan city with high standard of life and modern amenities whereas Seemapuri
witnesses a poor life style devoid of even the basic facilities like- drainage, sewage etc.

Q12.Under what conditions the rag-pickers in Seemapuri live?

Ans: The rag-pickers in Seemapuri live in structures of mud with roofs of tin and tarpaulin,
devoid of sewage, drainage and running water. They don’t have any permit or identity but they
have ration cards.

Q13.Why does the Anees Jung narrate the story of a young priest boy?
Ans: Anees Jung narrates the story of the young priest boy to explain that everybody’s
condition has improved and undergone a change but the rag-pickers are still the same. There
has been no improvement in their life.

Q14.Which are the two distinct worlds, the banglemakers feel themselves caught in?
Ans: The banglemakers are caught in two distinct worlds – one of the families caught in a web
of poverty, burdened by the stigma of caste in which they are born; the other is a vicious circle
of sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the
politicians.

Q15.Is Saheb happy working at the Tea Stall? Explain.

Ans: Saheb gets a job at a small tea stall. He is paid Rs 800 along with all his meals. There
seems to be some improvement in his condition but his face loses the carefree look. The steel
canister that he carries belongs to the owner of the shop. It seems heavier than the plastic bag
he used to carry as a rag picker. The symbolic meaning implies that Saheb inspite of having
constant monthly income is not free to work according to his own free will as he used to do
when he was a ragpicker. So ‘Saheb is no longer his own master’.