Class 12 Extra questions on Lesson - The Lost Spring by Anees Jung

1. What does the title ‘Lost Spring’ convey(means)?

Answer:
Spring is associated with childhood. Like spring, a child blooms in childhood. However, abject poverty and thoughtless traditions result in the loss of child-like innocence and much needed education. Millions of children like Saheb and Mukesh lose the spring in their lives because they are compelled to do hazardous work to provide a living for their family and themselves. Thus, the title brings out the dejected life of the child labourers and their deprivation of the blessings of childhood.

2. The bangle makers of Firozabad make beautiful bangles and make everyone happy but they themselves live and die in squalor(dirty place). Explain.

Answer:
In Firozabad, almost every family is involved in the business of bangle making. Firozabad is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry. The families  have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for all the women in the land. But these bangle makers are very poor. They can’t earn enough to afford even two two times of meals.

Even the children are forced to live in dingy cells without air and light. About 20,000 children work in the glass-blowing industry. They are forced to work for very long hours and also in very inhuman conditions. They often lose the brightness of their eyes. The bangle makers live a very miserable life. Though they make everyone happy by making beautiful bangles, they themselves live and die in very deplorable condition.

3. “Garbage to them is gold” How do the rag pickers of Seemapuri survive?
Answer:
About 10,000 Bangladeshi immigrants live in the Seemapuri area of Delhi. Seemapuri is located at the periphery of Delhi. It is a wilderness. The rag pickers live in the structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. They have been living here without any identity. They have their names in the voter lists and they have got their ration cards.

It enables to buy them grain. Survival in Seemapuri is ragpicking. They do not know no other profession but rag picking. They left their beautiful land of green fields because there were frequent storms and as a result their houses and fields would swept away due to them. As a result they had to starve. They pitched their tents wherever they find food. They could earn their food only by ragpicking.

4. Give a brief account of the life and activities of the people like Saheb-e-Alam settled in Seemapuri.
Answer:
Seemapuri is located on the periphery of Delhi. It is a slum area. About 10,000 people live there. They all are ragpickers and have come from Bangladesh in 1971. They are living in structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. They have lived there for many years without permits but with ration cards that get their names placed on voter lists and enable them to buy grain. Food is more important for survival than an identity.

Wherever they find food they pitch their tents that become their transit homes. They are involved in ragpicking. It has acquired the proportions of a fine art. Garbage to them is gold. It is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. For children, garbage is a thing wrapped in wonder. They often scrounge it to find some coins. On the whole we can say that the people living there are living a very hard life.

5. What do you know about the city of Firozabad?
Answer:
Firozabad is the centre of,bangle making industry in India. All over in India the bangles are supplied from this city. But there is a dark side of this city also. Firozabad is a very dirty city. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. They have been engaged in this profession for many generations. Even then these people always remain poor. The children are also involved in making bangles. They are forced to work for long hours in very hot temperatures. They have to work in dingy cells without air and light. They often lose the brightness of their eyes.

The bangle makers are caught in the vicious circle of sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians. They are beaten and put to jails if they try to organise themselves. Also the bangle makers are very poor. The young men are forced to adopt their elders’ profession. Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and the ability to dream.In this extract the writer has depicted that picture of Firozabad which perhaps is not known to many other parts of India.