Chapter 2 : Lost Spring -Writer Anees Jung (Prose)

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS

Question (1) Why did 'Anees jung' ask saheb about the school ? what was its impact on
saheb ?

Answer. 'Anees jung' asked saheb about the school because she wanted to know the intention of
saheb regarding studies. At the author's offer saheb immediately got ready to join the school, thought
the author offered him non-seriously.

Question (2) Why did saheb and other ragpickers not wear chappals ? what excuse did they
give for it ?

Answer. Saheb and other ragpickers did not wear chappals because its their tradition to wander
barefoot and they didn't like to wear also. They excused that their mother didn't give them from the
shelf.

Question (3) How many ragpickers used to live in Seemapuri, Delhi ? How did they settle
there ?

Answer. In Seemapuri, Delhi, more than 10,000 ragpickers used to live. They have lived there for
more than thirty years as they are the squatters who came from Bangladesh in 1971.

Question (4) Why was the meaning of garbage for children ? what did they find in it ?
Answer. For children, garbage was wrapped in wonder. In it, they sometimes found rupee, even a ten
repee note and therefore they didn't stop scrounging in hope of finding more.

Question (5) Why did saheb join the job at milk booth ? what was he paid for his service ?

Answer. Saheb joined the milk booth tea, stall because of poverty. There he was paid rs. 800 rupees
and all his meals but he had to work harder and bounded. there because he was no longer his own
master.

Question (6) Who was mukesh ? where did he belong and what was his ambition ?

Answer. Mukesh was a young boy belonging to the bangle-making family from Firozabad. His
ambition was different from his family as he wanted to become a motor mechanic.

Question (7) Why did Mukesh volunteer to take the narrator home ? who were there in the
home ?

Answer. Mukesh volunteered to take the narrator to his home because his house was being rebuilt
and he wanted to show it to her. In the home, there were many members as Mukesh's elder brother,
his brother's wife, Mukesh's father, grandmother and few animals.

Question (8) "It is his karam, his destiny." who said this and why ?

Answer. "It is his karam, his destiny". Mukesh's grandmother said this because she has watched her
own husband go blind with the dust from polishing of bangles. She said that a God given lineage can
never be broken.

Question (9) What does the bangles symbolize ? What is the role of bangle makers of
Firozabad ?

Answer. The bangles symbolize an Indian women's 'Suhag'. The bangle makers of Firozabad
produce the largest quantity of bangles in the country and export bangles to all over the world.

Question (10) Why could the bangle makers not organise themselves into a co-operative ?
What do they face if they do so ?
Answer. The bangle makers could't organise themselves into a co-operative because if they do so,
they are hauled up by the police, beaten and dragged to jail. They face the middlemen, police and
other selfish peoples.

Question (1) Who was saheb ? What was the plight that compelled him to wander in the streets
of Delhi for ragpicking ?

Answer. Saheb who belonged to the family of ragpickers was a young boy wandering in the streets of
Delhi with his friends. They were the squatters from Dhaka, Bangladesh where the storm has
destroyed their green fields and homes. They were so poor that they could nor go to school.

Their parents were depend on ragpicking only for their livelihood and unable to bear any other
expense except foodings. In total their poverty was the plight that compel saheb and others like him to
wander in the streets of Delhi for ragpicking.

Question (2) Children like saheb often go for private jobs in very small age. Is this their final
destiny ? How can such situation be overcome ?

Answer. Children like saheb often start to do the jobs in very small age and the only reason behind it
is their poverty. Their parents have to earn money for survival first, then they could think for any other
expense. Sometimes, they find no value of education in their life and remains uneducated.

Mostly, this becomes their final destiny because when they engage themselves in such jobs once,
then it seems very hard and impossible to run out of those. So, till their age, they got trapped in such
jobs and deprived of real education. Such situation can only be overcome by the combined efforts of
parents and government both. Every section of the society will have to work commonly and dedicated
to fight with this evil our society.

Question (3) Who was Mukesh ? What did he want to do in his life and what did he not want to
follow ?

Answer. Mukesh was a member of the family from Firozabad, engaged in bangle making. His whole
family since last many generation, was involved in only bangle making. So, no person of such bangle
making families could think of any other work naturally.

As because of family trade, he himself too had to do the same work but Mukesh never wanted to
follow that tradition. Actually, he wanted to be a motor mechanic for which he had to take a great pain
going against this family tradition and members, without support taking the training, going very far
from his house for learning etc.

Question (4) What did the narrator notice in the locality where Mukesh lived ? What was the
condition of bangle makers ?

Answer. Where Mukesh lived, there the narrator noticed a lot of things as children illegally working in
the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells without air and light stinking chocked lanes
with garbage, past homes that remain hovels with crumbing walls, wobbly doors, humans and animals
living together, Mukesh's house with a half-built shack and many other miserable things.

There, the narrator noticed that the condition of bangle makers was very pitiable. They were very
poor. Even after having the lunch, there was no surely of dinner. The labour of bangle makers was
very hard whereas their income was too low that they were unable to send their children to the school.
They were continuously with poverty.

Question (5) Every other house in Firozabad is engaged in glass industry. In every other yard,
there finds the spiral of bangles. Even then the makers remain in miserable condition. What
are the reason ? Explain with the suggestions this situation.
Answer. In India, Firozabad is the largest manufacturer of the bangles. Every other house in
Firozabad is engaged in glass industry. In every other yard, there finds the spiral of bangles out what
an irony that these families always remain in miserable condition. The reasons behind it are a lot in
many as since generation, they've been engaged in only bangle making and not seen any other thing
never so they are totally dependent on this trade, whenever they think or effort for any other are
stopped and hauled up by the police and other persons like middlemen, sahukars, the keepers of law,
the bureaucrats and the politicians.

There condition can only be reformed by the combined efforts of bangle makers and the government
both. Their products should be given "Hallmark" and kept free from taxes. They should be given
opportunity to sell their products directly to the companies and the mediators must be removed. Even
the government can give subsidy and easy low interest loan to these poor bangle makers.

Question (6) What is the vicious circle of middlemen ? How are they trapped since the time of
their forefathers ? Can they get organised ? If not, only why ? Explain.

Answer. The vicious circle of middleman is surely vicious. Actually, whenever these bangle makers
step out to come forward for any other works, they are hauled up and stopped by the policemen and
Sahukars, middleman, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians. Whenever, they even
think of any other trade, their thinking and abilities are killed. And this vicious circle of so called
gentlemen of the society seems more powerful than a web of spider.

They have been trapped since the time of their forefather due to the same reason because this legacy
is being transferred to every next generation. And due to this naturally felt and given legacy, the child
accept it very ordinarily. They can never be organised to easily because the middlemen, and others
do not let them organised because of their own greed and selfishness. These so called important
persons of the society thinks only of themselves and do the fake promises showing the false
sympathy. So, their ( bangle makers ) reform remains a challenge for them as well as for government.