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?
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.
Do you think Saheb was happy to work at the tea stall? Answer giving reasons.
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 4.
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 5.
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 6.
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 7.
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.

Question 8.
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 9.
Why could the bangle-makers not organise themselves into a co-operative?
Answer:
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.
The bangle makers of Ferozabad were not able to organise themselves into a cooperative
because they had got trapped in a vicious circle j of the sahukars, the middlemen, the
policemen, j the bureaucrats and the politicians. Together they had imposed a baggage on
these people 1 which they could not put down.

Question 10.
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.
LONG ANSWER
1.The bangle-makers of Ferozabad make bea-utiful 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.

2. Why did Saheb become a ragpicker? What did j he look for in the garbage dumps?
Answer:
Saheb belongs to a Bangladeshi refugee family that migrated to Delhi from Dhaka in the
wake of the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Here he finds himself in a vicious circle of social stigma,
poverty and exploitation. He represents a growing number of refugee migrant poor
population who are forced to lead a life of penury. This migratory population settle on the
periphery of big cities and start doing menial jobs to earn a living. Due to extreme poverty
Saheb’s parents are unable to provide for him and so he ends up picking rags for his own
survival as well as to support his parents. The author says that Saheb scrounges for ‘gold’ in
the garbage. Anything valuable like used clothes, shoes, bits of metal, plastic scrap, stray
coins and currency notes can be termed as gold for them.

3. What change did Anees Jung see in Saheb when she saw him standing by the gate of
the neighbourhood club?
Answer:
Saheb was a poor ragpicker who later takes up a job at a tea-stall in an attempt to be a master
of his own destiny. But unfortunately this move further enslaves him. His new job replaces
his light polythene bag with a heavy steel canister.
It even deprives him of roaming around with his friends without a care in the world. Earlier,
though he did not have the security of a regular income, he had his freedom, and later he did
have an assured income at the end of the month but he had lost his freedom. He was no more
a free bird and his own master. He appeared burdened and forlorn. He was now a bonded
labour who had surrendered his freedom. From being a spirited free bird who was not
answerable to anyone he has become bound. He lives in a society where there is utter lack of
compassion and commitment for the upliftment of these unfortunate children.
4. Describe the life of squatters at Seemapuri.
Answer:
Most of the squatters at Seemapuri were refugees from Bangladesh. Also:
Most of the people like Saheb-e-Alam settled in Seemapuri were refugees from Bangladesh
who had fled their country and migrated to Delhi from Dhaka in the wake of the 1971 Indo-
Pak war. Their dwellings were structures of mud, tin and tarpaulin with no sewage, drainage
or running water. Picking garbage and rags helped them to earn their daily bread, gave them
a roof over their heads and was their only means of livelihood and survival. Though these
squatters of Seemapuri have no identity but they do have valid ration cards that enable them
to buy grain. Living in Seemapuri, which is on the periphery of Delhi, is like living in hell.
Children here grow up to become partners in survival to their parents. An army of barefoot
children appears every morning, carrying their plastic bags on their shoulders and disappear
by noon. They are forced to live a life of abject poverty that results in the loss of childhood
innocence.
Saheb, a ragpicker, roamed in the streets, scrounging for garbage, barefoot and deprived of
education. Later he starts working in a tea stall but he loses his freedom and carefree life as
he is no longer his own master.
 The Third Level
1. Answer each of the following questions in about 30-40 words:

Question 1.
What does the third level refer to? What is the significance of the third level?
Answer:
The third level is a medium of escape through which man yearns to be away from life’s
harsh realities. Modem life is devoid of peace and tranquility so man in his quest to seek
solace escapes to a place where his aim is to seek the realization of his dreams and
unfulfilled wishes of his subconscious mind.

Question 2.
What convinced Charley that he had reached the third level at Grand Central Station and not
the second level? Answer:
The general layout of the third level was different from that of the second level. It had
comparatively smaller rooms, fewer ticket windows and lesser train gates. The infor¬mation
booth in the centre was made of wood and looked old. The place with its brass spittoons did
not look very bright. So Charley was convinced it was not the second level.

Question 3.
How does Charley, the narrator describe the third level at Grand Central Station?
Answer:
Charley says that the rooms on the third level were smaller than that of the second level.
There were fewer ticket windows and train gates and the information booth in the centre was
wood and old looking. There were open- flame gaslights and brass spittoons on the floor.
Everyone at the station was dressed in nineteenth century dresses.

Question 4.
How did Charley make sure that he was not in the present time?
Answer:
To make sure that he was not in the present time, Charley did a reality check. He looked at
the newspapers which were on sale at a kiosk and found a copy of the newspaper ‘The
World’, which carried the main story on President Cleveland. Then he confirmed from the
Public Library files that the newspaper he had seen was dated 11th June, 1894.

Question 5.
How did Charley often get lost on the Grand Central Station?
Answer:
The Grand Central Station was growing like a tree pushing out endless corridors, doorways
and stairs like roots. It had intricate and tangled pathways. The network of passages was so
complicated that instead of reaching his destination, one did tend to move up and down to
look for entries and exits. So, Charley often got lost on this station.
Question 6.
Why did Charley suspect that Sam had gone to Galesburg? Answer:
When Sam disappeared all of a sudden and no one knew about his whereabouts, Charley
suspected he had gone to Galesburg as Sam was a city boy and liked Galesburg very much.
Then Charley found an envelope mailed to Sam by his grandfather from his home in
Galesburg and so it confirmed that Sam was indeed in Galesburg.

Question 7.
How does Charley describe Galesburg as it used to be in 1894?
Answer:
Charley describes Galesburg as a quiet, simple and peaceful place with big old frame houses,
huge lawns and tremendous trees. The summer evenings were rather long and people sat out
on their lawns in a peaceful world, men smoking cigars and women waving palm-leaf fans.

Question 8.
What did Charley learn about Sam from the stamp and coin store?
Answer:
From the stamp and coin store Charley gets to know that Sam had bought old style currency
worth eight hundred dollars. This money was sufficient to set him up in a little hay, feed and
grain business in Galesburg.

Question 9.
How did Sam reach Galesburg? What did he advise Charley to do?
Answer:
Sam was fascinated by Charley’s description of Galesburg. He was so burdened by the
tensions and stress of modem life that he thought of escaping to the peaceful world of
Galesburg. His advice to Charley is that, he (Charley) and his wife, Louisa should come over
to Galesburg through the medium of the ‘third level’.

Question 10.
Why did the booking clerk refuse to accept the money?
Answer:
The booking clerk refuses to accept the money because the notes Charley had given him
were of old style. He did not pay in the currency notes that were in circulation in 1894. So
the clerk stared at him and told him, “That ain’t money, Mister”. He thought Charley was
trying to cheat him and even threatened to get him arrested.
LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS

1.How did Charley reach the third level of Grand Central? How was it different from
the other levels?
Answer:
One night Charley worked till late at the office. Then he was in a hurry to get back to his
apartment. So he decided to take the subway from Grand Central. He went down the steps
and came to the first level. Then he walked down to the second level from where the
suburban trains left. He ducked into an arched doorway that headed to the subway. Then he
got lost. Knowing that he was going wrong he continued to walk downward. The tunnel
turned a sharp left and then taking a short flight of stairs he came out on the third level at the
Grand Central Station. Here he saw many unusual things. There were very few ticket
windows and train gates that were old-looking and made of wood. Dim gaslights flickered
and men wore derby hats and four-button suits. It was a rather strange world of sideburns,
beards and fancy moustaches.

2. Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
Answer:
The fears, anxieties and insecurities of the modem world are taking a toll on man’s mind. He
feels helpless and frustrated and seeks temporary respite from life’s harsh realities. Charley
too was unable to cope up with his fastpaced and stressful life so his flight to the third level
was undoubtedly a medium of escape for him. It is nothing but a creation of Charley’s own
mind. He wants to escape from the modern world’s insecurity, fear, worries and stress and so
seeks an exit, a medium to get away into the world of dreams and fancies.

3. What made Charley believe that the was actually standing at the third level?
Answer:
One night Charley worked late at the office. He was in a hurry to get to his apartment. So he
decided to take the subway from Grand Central. He ducked into an arched doorway and then
he got lost. He walked down the steps to the second level, turned left and kept on walking.
He came out on the third level at the Grand Central Station. This was a different, old and
romantic world. So he was convinced that he was actually standing at the third level. There
were fewer ticket windows there which were made of wood and were old-looking. There
were open flame gaslights. He saw people with beards, sideburns and fancy moustaches.
Then he caught a glimpse of an old locomotive and also saw an 1894 issue of ‘The World’
newspaper. Perhaps Charley is under pressure to escape from the harsh world of realities. He
would like to escape to the peaceful world of 1894.

4. What kind of people did Charley ‘See’ at the third level?

Answer:
Having worked late at the office Charley decided to take a train back home. So he came to
Grand Central Station and from the second level he got lost while ducking into an arched
doorway and found himself inside a tunnel. This tunnel took him to another light of stairs
and he found himself on the third level of the station. As compared to the second level, the
third level had smaller rooms, fewer ticket windows and train gates. Everyone there was
dressed in ‘eighteen-ninety-something’. Charley came across men and women wearing 19th
century dresses. Men sported fancy moustaches, beards and sideburns. Tiny lapels, four-
button suits, derby hats and pocket gold watches seemed to be in vogue. Women were
wearing fancy cut sleeves, long skirts and high-buttoned shoes. Charley was confused to see
people sporting old-fashioned clothes and hair styles at the third level.
 The Tiger King
Short Answer Type Questions (3-4 Marks)
Question 1.
How did the tiger king acquire his name?
Answer:
The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram was known as the Tiger King. He got the name of Tiger
King as tigers dominated his life and his mission to live. He killed seventy tigers in ten years
and also married a girl from a State which had a large number of tigers in order to kill the
next 30 tigers.

Question 2.
What happened to the tiger provided by the Dewan Saheb?
Answer:
The tiger provided by the Dewan Saheb was old and agile. It was passive and exhausted. The
Tiger King did not take careful aim at the hundredth tiger. The tiger fainted due to the sound
of the bullet and fell in a crumpled heap. No one wanted the Maharaja to know this. It was a
hunter who actually shot the tiger later.

Question 3.
What did the British officer’s secretary tell the j Maharaja? Why did the Maharaja
refuse • permission?
Answer:
When the British officer was denied permission for hunting a tiger his secretary sent a
message to the Maharaja that the Maharaja himself could kill the tiger and then allow his
officer to get photographed holding the gun over the dead tiger. But the Maharaja did not
agree to his request because he felt doing so would mean other officers would come with
similar demands.

Question 4.
Why, do you think, was the Maharaja in danger of losing his throne?
Answer:
A high ranking British officer wished to go tiger hunting but he was declined permission by
the Maharaja. The officer then requested to be photographed with a tiger killed by the
Maharaja. The Maharaja rejected that request also. Having turned down a senior British
officer’s request twice could have put the Maharaja in danger of losing his throne.

Question 5.
What led the Maharaja to start out on a tiger hunt?
Answer:
The chief astrologer had predicted that a tiger would be the cause of the Maharaja’s death
and he should be particularly wary of the hundredth tiger. So the Maharaja banned the
hunting of tigers in his State and those who violated this law had to hand over their wealth
and property to the kingdom, while the Maharaja himself started out on a tiger hunt.
Question 6.
How did the hundredth tiger take its revenge on the king?
Answer:
The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram, who was also known as the Tiger King tried to go against
what was destined in his fate. The result was tragic and ironical. The chief astrologer had
predicted that a tiger would be the cause of the king’s death and he should specially be wary
of the hundredth tiger. The vain king banned hunting of the tigers in the State by everyone
except himself and was able to kill ninety-nine tigers. He thought he had killed the hundredth
tiger also but somehow the bullet missed its mark and the hundredth tiger survived. Then on
his son’s birthday the king bought him a wooden tiger which he felt was a perfect gift for his
son. A splinter in it pierced the king’s hand and the infection spread all over his arm causing
his death. It was indeed ironical that despite killing all the tigers in his kingdom the king did
finally become the victim of the hundredth tiger and the astrologer’s prediction did come
true.

Question 7.
How did the Tiger King acquire his name?
Answer:
The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram was known as the Tiger King. He got the name of Tiger
King as tigers dominated his life and his mission to live. He killed seventy tigers in ten years
and also married a girl from a State which had a large number of tigers in order to kill the
next 30 tigers.

Question 8.
Why was the Maharaja so anxious to kill the hundredth tiger?
Answer:
The chief astrologer had predicted that a tiger would be the cause of the Maharaja’s death
and that he should be particularly wary of the hun-dredth tiger. So the Maharaja set out on a
tiger hunt and was rather anxious to kill the hundredth tiger who could be the cause of his
death.

Question 9.
When and why did the Maharaja decide to get married?
Answer:
The Maharaja had killed seventy tigers and thus the tiger population became extinct in the
forests of his kingdom. It was then that he decided to get married to a girl in a royal family of
a state which had a large tiger population.

Question 10.
What sort of hunts did the Maharaja offer to organize for the high-ranking British
officer? What trait of the officer does it reveal?
Answer:
The Maharaja offered to organize a boar hunt, a mouse hunt or a mosquito hunt for the high-
ranking British officer. He offered to organize any hunt other than a tiger hunt. This reveals
that the officer was a meek man who, the Maharaja felt, would be satisfied with any sort of
hunt.
LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. How did the Tiger King meet his end? What is ironical about his fate?
Answer:
The Maharaja of Pratibandapuram, who was also known as the Tiger King tried to go against
what was destined in his fate. The result was tragic and ironical. The chief astrologer had
predicted that a tiger would be the cause of the king’s death and he should specially be wary
of the hundredth tiger. The vain king banned hunting of the tigers in the State by everyone
except himself and was able to kill ninety-nine tigers. He thought he had killed the hundredth
tiger also but somehow the bullet missed its mark and the hundredth tiger survived. Then on
his son’s birthday the king bought him a wooden tiger which he felt was a perfect gift for his
son. One of the sharp splinter in it pierced the king’s hand and the infection spread all over
his arm causing his death. It was indeed ironical that despite killing all the tigers in his
kingdom the king did finally become the victim of the hundredth tiger and the astrologer’s
prediction did come true.

2. Describe the efforts made by the Tiger King to achieve his target of killing a hundred
tigers.
Answer:
The chief astrologer had told the King that his death would come from a tiger and he should
be specially wary of the hundredth tiger. So to prove the astrologer wrong the King decided
to kill a hundred tigers. He vowed that he would . attend to all other matters only after killing
one hundred tigers. Initially, the king seemed well set to realise his ambition. Then some
dangers and difficulties cropped up. There were times when the bullet missed its mark and at
other times the tiger would leap on him and he would have to fight the wild beast with his
bare hands. The Tiger King was able to kill ninety-nine tigers this way and if he could kill
just one more tiger all his fears would be over for good and he could give up tiger hunting.
But the hundredth tiger could not be found. The Dewan realized the disastrous results, if the
hundredth tiger was not found. So a tiger was brought in from the People’s Park in Madras
and taken directly to the forest where the Maharaja was hunting. The King took aim and the
tiger fell in a heap. The Maharaja was extremely happy to have finally killed the hundredth
tiger. After he left the hunters took a closer look at the tiger and realized the tiger was not
dead as the king had missed the aim. They decided not to tell the Maharaja and one of the
hunters killed the tiger. The king was left under the impression that he had achieved his
target of killing a hundred tigers.

3. When did the Tiger King stand in danger of losing his kingdom? How was he able to
avert the danger?
Answer:
A high-ranking British officer, who was actually a coward, wanted to kill a tiger to flaunt
himself before his compatriots. When he was not allowed to hunt a tiger he sent a word to
the King that he would be happy if he was just allowed to be photographed with a dead tiger
killed by the King. But the King was adamant and did not agree to his request because it
would encourage the other officers to come with similar demands. The King thus seriously
angered the visiting senior British officer and now ‘stood in danger of losing his kingdom
itself’. So to pacify the annoyed official, the King and his Dewan sent bribes of fifty
expensive diamond rings to the official’s wife hoping she would select one or two and return
the rest. But the greedy lady kept all the rings. The King, no doubt, lost a few lakhs but
managed to save his throne and was thus able to avert the danger of losing his kingdom.

4. Why was the king worried after having killed ninety-nine tigers? How did his
worries come to an end?
Answer:
At the birth of the King, an astrologer had predicted that a tiger would be responsible for his
death. At the age of twenty, the state astrologer had told him to be wary of the hundredth
tiger. The Tiger King had killed ninety nine tigers and now he just needed to kill one tiger to
reach his tally of killing a hundred tigers. Then he would have no fears left. So he is
feverishly anxious to kill the hundredth tiger at the earliest. But the tiger farms ran dry in his
father-in law’s kingdom also. Out of frustration, the King terminates the services of many
officers and thinks of punishing the villagers by doubling the land tax. He also orders his
Dewan either to resign or find a tiger. The Dewan gets worried and upset and recalls the old
tiger that has been brought from Madras and kept hidden in his house. He drags the old and
weak tiger and drives him to the forest where the King is hunting. The initially hesitant tiger
then wanders into the Maharaja’s presence and is finally shot by the King.

5. The astrologer’s prediction about the death of the Tiger King came to be true. Do
you agree with this statement? Explain why or why not.
Answer:
The chief-astrologer had forewarned the king that a tiger would be responsible for his death
and he should be particularly beware of the hundredth tiger. After killing the hundredth tiger
the king was relaxed and became careless. He did not know that the hundredth tiger had
actually survived because the bullet had missed its mark. Finally it was a tiger who was
responsible for the king’s death though it was a toy-tiger which he had bought as a birthday
gift for his son. The carved toy tiger had a rough surface with sharp wooden splinters. One of
these sharp splinters pierced the king’s right hand and caused a deadly infection that spread
all over his arm. Three surgeons tried their level best but they could not save the king and so
the astrologer’s prediction did indeed come true. Despite the fact that the king took every
measure to avoid the circumstance of his death the hundredth tiger took its final revenge
upon the king as predicted by the astrologer.