LOST SPRING BY ANEES JUNG

COMPLETE SOLUTION OF LOST SPRING

Q1. What is the name of the author of “Lost Spring”?

Ans:- Anees jung is the author of “Lost Spring”.

Q2. Who are the central characters of the story?

Ans:- Saheb-e-Alam and Mukesh are the central characters in the story.

Q3. Who is Saheb-e-Alam?

Ans:- Saheb-e-Alam is a rag-picker who picks up rags by roaming street to street  with many of his friends.

Q4. Who is Mukesh? What does he want to be?

Ans:- Mukesh is a young boy who belongs to a bangles maker family of Firozabad. He wants to be a motor mechanic.

Q4. What does Saheb seem to do every morning many with his friends?

Ans:-Saheb seems scrounging every morning for gold in the garbage dumps many with his friends.

Q5. What does the author ask Saheb?

Ans:- The author asks Saheb to go to school.

Q6. What is the mean by Saheb-e-Alam?

Ans:- Lord of the universe.

Q7. What does one answer when the author asks to wear “Chappals?

Ans:- My mother doesn’t bring them down from the self,” one of the boys answers simply.

Q8. Do Saheb and his friends walk barefoot?

Ans:- Yes, they do.

Q9. What does it show, not wearing of footwear by rag-pickers?

Ans:- It shows, it is not lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot to show poverty.

Q10. Where do Saheb and his family live?

Ans:- Saheb and his family live in seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it.   

Q11 Where has Saheb’s family come from?

Ans:- Saheb’s family has come from Bangladesh in 1971.

Q12. How many rag-pickers do live in Seemapuri?

Ans:- Ten thousand gar-pickers live in Seemapuri.

Q13. Since how many years have they been living in Seemapuri without an identity and permit?

Ans:-They have been living in Seemapuri more than thirty years without any identity and permits.

Q14. What is more important for survival than identity according to rag-pickers?

Ans:- According to rag-pickers food is more important for survival than an identity.

Q15. What is the mean by rag-picking for them?

Ans:- Rag-picking means their daily bread and butter, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. But for a child it is even more.

Q16. What does Saheb sometimes find in garbage dumps?

Ans:- Saheb sometimes finds a rupee, a ten rupee note. And sometimes he finds even a silver coin in the heap of garbage.

Q17. Which game does Saheb watch standing by fence gate of the neighbourhood club?

Ans:- Saheb watches two young men playing tennis standing beside the fence gate of the neighbourhood club.

Q18.  Has Saheb worn a pair of tennis shoes? Are they proper?

Ans:- Of course, Saheb has worn a pair of tennis shoes but they aren’t proper, that look strange over his discoloured shirt and shorts. There is a hole in a shoe which has been discarded by some rich boy.

Q19. Where does Saheb work now? How much is he paid every month?

Ans:- Saheb works in a tea-stall,  he is paid Rs.800 and all his meals.

Q20. Is Saheb happy working in the tea-stall?

Ans:- Not at all, Saheb isn’t  happy working in the tea-stall because he has lost his carefree look. He couldn’t be longer his own master.

Q21. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?

Ans :- The city of  Firozabad is famous for its  bangles industry. It is the centre of India’s glass blowing industry too.

Q22. Where has Mukesh’s entire family been working since generation?

Ans:- Mukesh’s entire family has been working in the bangles industry since generation.

Q23. How many children could be found working in these bangles industries of Firozabad?

Ans:- 20,000 children could be found working in these bangles industries of Firozabad. They work at the high temperatures, in dingy cells without air and light.

Q24. Where does Mukesh take to the author?

Ans:- Mukesh takes the author to his house where he lives.

Q25. What does the author see when she enters a half built shack?

Ans:- The author watches many things beyond her imagination when she enters the house, in a part of it, thatched with dead grass, a firewood stove over which sits a large vessel of sizzling spinach leaves. On the ground, in larger aluminium platters are more chopped vegetables etc.

Q26. What is the custom of daughter in-law for elder man?

Ans:- As custom demands, daughter in-law must veil their faces before male elders.

Q27. What does Mukesh’s grandmother say about bangles making?

Ans:- It is his karam, his destiny,” says Mukesh’s grandmother, she implies. Born in the caste of bangle makers, they have seen nothing but bangles. Her own husband goes blind with the dust from polishing the glass of bangles.

Q28. How many colours of bangles are made in Firozabad?

Ans:- Almost every colour of bangles are made in Firozabad whatever are born out of the seven colours of the rainbow, sunny gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink, purple etc.

Q29. What is symbol of Suhaag for Indian women?

Ans:- Bangles are considered auspiciousness in marriage for Indian women. It symbolises an Indian women’s Suhaag.

Q30. Who is Savita? What does she say?

Ans:- Savita is a young girl in a drab pink dress, sits alongside an elderly woman, soldering pieces of glass. She is at home in her work and her hands work like a tongs of a machine. She says, in a voice drained of joy. She hasn’t enjoyed even one full meal in her entire lifetime.

Q31. What do they answer when the author ask them to organize themselves into a cooperative?

Ans:-  Indeed they have fallen into vicious circle of middlemen who trapped their fathers and forefathers. “Even if we organized, we are the ones who will be hauled up by the police, beaten and dragged to jail for doing something illegal,” they say.

Q32. How does author feel having heard their problems?

Ans:- The author feels quite weird, she sees two distinct worlds – one of the family, caught in a web of poverty, burdened stigma of caste in which they are born.

Q33. Who are responsible to tackle in their way of growth?

Ans:- There are many who tackle in their way of growth and bother them, a vicious circle of sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians.

Q34. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.

Ans:- There are many hazards of working in the glass bangles industry. They are following–

 Working at the high temperature, in dingy cells without air and light near the furnace. Welding of glass damages the eyes. Dust from polishing the glass of bangles causes blindness. Frail eyesight before being adult etc.

Q35. Why should child labour be eliminated and how?

Ans:- Children are the harbingers hope and good fortune of any country. They are shining future of tomorrow and leaders of forward. Although there is a ban on child labour and provisions in the law exist for punishing any individuals or institution involved in it, but yet thousands children are involved in hazardous industries provide cheap labour, and can be easily exploited. It is quite easy to have a look child labour around us, in hotel, dhaba, tea-stall and at many other places. Child labour must be abolished because it retards the  proper development and growth of the child. Exploited and oppressed, the child is not allowed to realize his/her full potential.

Child labour can be eliminated only if there is a strong will to implement laws against it in letter and spirit. If everyone became determine against the child labour. Media can play a very important role here by exposing organizations involved in such heinous crime. Free primary education and free meals should be provided to all children. If time to time, the government officials should come and inspect places where children are likely to be worked illegally.

Q36. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?  

 Ans:- There could be more reasons for people migration from villages to cities.

·       People migrate from villages to cities in search of a better livelihood.

·       Most of the people migrate from villages to cities for higher education while many others migrate for earning their bread and butter.

·       Few of us migrate from villages to cities for living their standard life which attract many of us towards living in star worlds.

Q37. Summary of the Lost Spring.

Ans:- I – Sometimes I find a rupee in the garbage. The first part tells the writer’s impressions about the life of the poor rag pickers. The rag pickers have migrated from Dhaka and found a settlement in Seemapuri. Their fields and homes had been swept away by storms. They had come to the big city to find a living. They are poor. The writer watches Saheb every morning scrounging for “gold” in her neighbourhood. Garbage is a means of survival for the elders and for the children it is something wrapped in wonder. The children come across a coin or two from it. These people have desires and ambitions, but they do not know the way to achieve them. There are quite a few things that are unreachable to them, namely shoes, tennis and the like. Later Saheb joins a tea stall where he could earn 800 Rupees and all the meals. The job has taken away his freedom.

      II – I want to drive a car.

The second part deals with the life of Mukesh, who belongs to the family of Bangle-makers. Firozabad is best known for its glass-blowing industry. Nearly 20,000 children are engaged in this business and the law that forbids child labour is not known here. The living condition and the working environment is a woeful tale. Life in dingy cells and working close to hot furnaces make these children blind when they step into the adulthood. Weighed down by the debt, they can neither think nor find a way to come of out of this trap. The politicians, middlemen, policemen and bureaucrats will all obstruct their way of progress. The women in the household consider it as their fate and just follow the tradition. Mukesh is different from the rest of the folk there. He dreams to become a motor mechanic. The garage is far away from his house but he shall walk. comes across Mukesh in Firozabad.