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Lost Spring
Q1. What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where
has he come from?
Ans. Saheb is looking for gold in the garbage dumps. He is in the neighbourhood of
the author. Saheb has come from Bangladesh. He Came with his mother in 1971.
His house was set amidst the green fields of Dhaka. Storms swept away their fields
and homes. So they left the country.

Q2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing
footwear?
Ans. One explanation offered by the author is that it is a tradition to stay barefoot. It
is not lack of money. He wonders if this is only an excuse to explain away a
perpetual state of poverty. He also remembers the story of a poor body who prayed
to the goddess for a pair of shoes.

Q3. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain.

Ans. No, Saheb is not happy working at the tea-stall. He is no longer his own
master. His face has lost the carefree look. The steel canister seems heavier than
the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulder. The bag was his. The
canister belongs to the man who owns the tea-shop.

Q4. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?

Ans. The city of Firozabad is famous for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad
is engaged in making bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry.
Families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making
bangles for the women in the land.

Q5. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry?

Ans. Boys and girls with their fathers and mothers sit in dark hutments, next to lines
of flames of flickering oil lamps. They weld pieces of coloured glass into circles of
bangles. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. They
often end up losing eyesight before they become adults. Even the dust from
polishing the glass of bangles is injurious to eyes. Many workers have become blind.
The furnaces have very high temperature and therefore very dangerous.

Q6. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
Ans. Mukesh’s grandmother thinks that the god-given lineage can never be broken.
Her son and grandsons are bom in the caste of bangle makers. They have seen
nothing but bangles.
Mukesh’s father has taught them what he knows—the art of making bangles. But
Mukesh wants to be a motor mechanic. He will go to a garage and learn, though the
garage is far away from his home.
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Q7. Who was Saheb? What was he doing and why?

Ans. Saheb was a young boy of school-going age. He was looking for gold in the
garbage dumps of the big city. He had left his home in Dhaka, Bangladesh and came
to the big city in search of living. He has nothing else to do but pick rags.

Q4. How does the author focus on the ‘perpetual state of poverty’ of the
children not wearing footwear?
Ans. The author notices that most of the young children engaged in rag picking are
not wearing footwear. Some of them do not have chappals. Others want to wear
shoes. Some say it is tradition to stay barefoot. To the author it seems lack of
money. Poverty forces them to walk without footwear.

Q5. Explain: “For children, garbage has a meaning different from what it
means to their parents. ”
Ans. Small children scrounge heaps of garbage. They expect to get some coin, note
or valuable thing in it. Sometimes they find a rupee or even a ten rupee note. This
gives the hope of finding more. They search it excitedly. For children, garbage is
wrapped in wonder.
For the elders it is a means of survival. Thus, garbage has two different meanings.

Q6. Where does the author find Saheb one winter morning? What explanation
does Saheb offer?
Ans. The author finds Saheb standing by the fenced gate of a neighbourhood club.
He is watching two young men, dressed in white, playing tennis. Saheb says that he
likes the game, but he is content to watch it standing behind the fence. He goes
inside when no one is around. He uses the swing there.

Q7. What job did Saheb take up? Was he happy ? [All India 2014]
Ans. Saheb took up the job at a tea-stall. But he was not happy with it. He was no
longer his own master. His face had lost the carefree look. Although he earned ?
800, even then he was not satisfied.

Q8. How has “a dream come true” for Saheb but what is “out of his reach?”
Ans. Saheb is wearing discarded tennis shoes. One of them has a hole. Saheb does
not bother about the hole. For one who has walked barefoot, even shoes with a hole
is a dream come true. But tennis, the game he is watching so intently, is out of his
reach.

Q9. How does Saheb’s life change when he starts working at the tea-stall?
Ans. Saheb now has a regular income. He is paid 800 rupees and all his meals.
Thus, food is no problem. But his face has lost the carefree look. The steel canister
in his hand now seems a burden. He is no longer his own master. He may have to
work for longer hours. The helplessness of doing things at his own will makes him
sad.
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Q10. Who is Mukesh? What is his dream? Why does it look like “a mirage
amidst the dust?”
Ans. Mukesh is the son of a poor bangle-maker of Firozabad, where every other
family is engaged in making bangles. His poor father has failed to renovate his
house or send his two sons to school. Mukesh insists on being his own master. His
dream is to be a motor mechanic. He wants to drive a car. Given the conditions of
existence, his dream looks like a mirage amidst the dust.

[Link] do you learn about Firozabad from this chapter?

Ans. Firozabad is famous for its glass bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass-
blowing industry.
Families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making
bangles for all the women in the land. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in
making bangles.

Q12. How is Mukesh different from the other bangle makers of Firozabad?
Ans. Mukesh is quite different from other bangle makers of Firozabad because he
has the courage to take initiative and break from the traditional family occupation. He
has strong will power also. He insists on being his own master by becoming a motor
mechanic.

Q13. What do you think is the plight of the children born in the families of
bangle-makers?
Ans. The vicious circle of the middlemen and their allies have entrapped the poor
bangle- makers in their nets. The stronghold is suffocating. They have imposed a
heavy burden on little children. They can’t put it down. Before they are able to think,
they accept the baggages as naturally as their fathers.

Q14. What do you think is the theme of ‘Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen
Childhood’?
Ans. The theme of the chapter is the grinding poverty and the traditions which
condemn poor children to a life of exploitation. The two stories taken together depict
the plight of street children forced into labour early in life and denied the opportunity
of schooling. The callousness of the society and the political class only adds to the
sufferings of these poor people.