THE LOST SPRING

Stories of Stolen Childhood

v  Anees Jung:

·         An Indian author, journalist and a columnist for major newspapers in India and abroad

·         Born in Hyderabad

·         From an aristocratic family in Hyderabad – her father, Nawab Hosh Yar Jung, was a renowned scholar and poet, and served as the musahib (adviser) to the last Nizam (prince) of Hyderabad State.

·         Famous for her notable work “Unveiling India”

·         Her works reflects on-

1.      Under privileged peoples plight

2.      Condition of Indian women

3.      Women behind the purdah

v  Reason to include this chapter in your syllabus-

1.      We should be aware of the contemporary world, the world around us

2.      We should be sensitive towards people living next to us

3.      We should try to understand plight of poor children, who are deprived of schooling for different reasons(working in different factories, hotels, shops etc)

4.      We should know rights of children and laws made to protect them

v  The title – “The Lost Spring”

1.      Spring is the best season; it is the season of joy and happiness. Flowers bloom and trees get new leaves in this season. So it is the season of growth too. In the same way childhood is the best part of our life. It is the time for our growth and development. It is the time to bloom and be happy. But there are some children who’re deprived of this happiness. For these children this spring is consumed in poverty, dirt and dust. And at a very tender age their shoulders are burdened with hard labour. So, their pursuit of childhood is lost in their overburdened life.

2.      It suggests the plight of street children who are forced into labour and denied of schooling.

3.      Callousness of society and the elite class – the society is not at all bothered by the condition of these children. Even the elite group of people like politicians who’re elected to serve people are not at all interested in the plight and future of these children, the policeman who is recruited to protect people’s right harass these people in different times. 

4.      Author analyses extreme poverty and traditions which condemn these children to a life of poverty and exploitation.

v  The story taken from her book – “Stories of Stolen Childhood”

v  Chapter includes two stories

1.      About SEEMAPURI

2.      About FIROZABAD

v  Story from Seemapuri

1.      Title-    Sometimes I Find a Rupee in the Garbage

        I.            The story begins with a statement given by a young boy named, Saheb.  Sahib when says “sometimes I find a rupee in the garbage” he uses a figures of speech i.e. hyperbole. When we exaggerate something then that’s called hyperbole. It’s used to beautify the language.

      II.            Then author introduce us to Saheb in “Flashback” i.e. author moves back to introduce who is Saheb and where he belong.

2.      The Main character-  Saheb

        I.            Saheb is a rag-picker. Every morning the narrator notices him scrounging the garbage for something. He belonged to the green fields of Dhaka.  But as his mother say long back they left their home due to frequent storm and came to the present city in search of a better life.

      II.            When the narrator asked why he keeps searching the garbage. He says he has nothing else to do. At this point narrator suggests him to go to school.  Saheb says there is no school in his neighbourhood. If there will be one he’ll attend.  Then narrator promised to build one. Although she didn’t mean it. But the boy was serious. He asked of the school when he saw her again. The narrator at this point felt small as she was not all serious about the school.

    III.            After months of knowing him author comes to know his name. His name is Saheb- ei-Alam, meaning lord of the universe. There is an irony behind his name. There is nothing he can own, not even a pair of chappals. He roams bare foot with an army of barefoot boys.  But he was named as Saheb- ei- Alam.

    IV.            Then narrator remembers the story of a man.

Settlement at Seemapuri

1.      Huts are made of mud , tarpaulin and tin roofed

2.      Poor sanitation and no sewage

3.      No proper drinking water

4.      Compelled to live a substandard life

5.      Though Seemapuri is in the outskirt of Delhi its metaphorically far away from Delhi because there is no match in the life style of inhabitants of Delhi and Seemapuri

6.      Food was more important for survival than identity

7.      They don’t have any identity or belongingness but they do have a ration card which makes them buy grain and acts as vote banks for the politicians

8.      They live by rag picking. Both children and elders are rag-pickers. But rag picking means differently to them. For the elders it’s the source of income and for the children it is far more. It is the hidden treasure, a gold mine from where sometimes they find a coin or even a ten rupee note.

9.      Children are deprived of schooling and fulfilling their dreams. They don’t even have a pair of shoes to wear. They walk barefoot and semi naked body.

Character of Saheb

1.      Ironically his complete name is Saheb-ei-Alam, meaning lord of the universe. Whereas he is a rag-picker living in Seemapuri, an outskirt of Delhi.

2.      He is ten years old, dreams to go to school, play tennis and wear tennis shoes. His dream is not fulfilled. Although he managed to get a discarded pair of shoes.

3.      Later he works in a tea stall for Rs.800/- per month. Although he managed to get a job he is no more master of his own. Now he works for someone else and loses his freedom.

4.      He is unhappy. The weight of the tin canister is heavier than the rag picking bag. Because the canister belonged to someone else but the rag picking bag was of his own.

5.      Through the character of Saheb we see how children are forced to work and exploited.

Different reasons writer gives for children not wearing sleepers

1.      Mother has not given sleepers

2.      Following the tradition to walk barefoot

3.      Although the real reason is they lack money. It is their poverty.

2^nd Story- Mukesh

v  Title – “I want to drive a car”, it’s a statement by Mukesh, a small boy of a bangle maker family.

v  Firozabad: Centre of India’s glass making industry. Families here live by bangle making business. They have spent years after years working around furnaces, welding glasses and making bangles. Many lost their eyesight in the process.

v  Description of their work place

1.      Small dark huts having no light and very poor ventilation.

2.      High temperature and full of smoke

3.      Stinking smells comes from garbage

4.      dingy cells

5.      unsteady doors and no windows

6.      dust of glass effects both their health and eyesight

7.      human and animals co-exist

v  Economic condition

1.      Exploited by Sahukars, Politicians, Policeman, bureaucrat and middleman

2.      All the profits are begged by these people

3.      Compelled to lead a substandard, underprivileged life and unhygienic life

Reason to continue as bangle maker-

1.      They say its god given lineage and how can they break it.

2.      They don’t dare to change it

3.      They don’t have a good leader to lead

4.      They don’t dare to break the vicious circle of exploitation by Sahukars, Politicians, Policeman, bureaucrat and middleman

5.      Hundreds of years of slavery had killed the initiative of people to think of a better life.

6.      They carried on their miserable life as they did not have the courage to rebel against tradition. They did not have money enough to start their own new kind of enterprise.

7.      If someone dared to start a new line, there were police, middle-men, sahukars and politicians to persecute them. Police, middle-men and others would not allow them to take any other vocation. Justice after all is the right of the rich and the powerful, not of the helpless like Mukesh. The condition of the life of Saheb or Mukesh was far from desirable. It should not be allowed to continue. But some people must bell the cat. The writer was happy when he came to know that some young men like Mukesh was ready to take the plunge, rebel against tradition and start a new life.

v  MUKESH

1.      He is a child labour in the family profession of bangle making business

2.      He is daring and different from all other children and family members who have submitted to miseries and hazardous profession

3.      Although he is grown up seeing bangle making wants to be a motor mechanic , his own master

4.      He is ready to walk long way to the garage

v  SAVITA: a young girl sitting next to the elderly woman. She is also busy making bangles without knowing the austerity of bangles in Indian women’s life.

v  Question -answer

1.      Explain the significance of title ‘Lost Spring’.

Ans: In this lesson, the author Anees Jung examines and analyses the grinding poverty and tradition that condemn children to a life of exploitation. Saheb as a rag-picker whose parents have left behind a life of abject poverty in Bangladesh. His family, like the many other families of rag pickers lives in Seemapuri. They live in miserable condition. The writer is pained to see Saheb, whose name means the ruler of the Earth, lose the spark of childhood. She then proceeds to tell about Mukesh who does want to be his own master. Hailing from Firozabad, the centre of India’s bangle making and glass blowing industry, he has always worked in the glass making factory. His family does not know that it is illegal for children to work in such close to furnaces with such high temperatures. They are exposed to various health hazards like losing their eyesight as they work in dark and dingy cells. The family of bangle maker of Firozabad are so burdened that they have lost their ability to dream. The writer’s observation is that these poor hopeless people are but pawn in the games that are played by Sahukars, middlemen, the policemen, the bureaucrats and the politicians. The title is meaningful as they lost their spring (childhood). The writer has beautifully essayed the story of stolen childhood with a view to sensitizing us to the plight of these poor unfortunate children.

2.       Why do children walk barefoot, in cities, or on village roads? Is it a tradition or something else? What does the author Anees Jung sate about it in her story ‘Lost Spring’?

Ans: In this story the author analyses the grinding poverty and traditions that condemn children to a life of exploitation. She has been noticing the group of barefoot rag pickers children for many months. She asks one why he is not wearing footwear. Another adds if he gets, he will throw them off. A third boy says that he wants shoes; he has never owned a pair all his life. Then the author tells a story of a man from Udipi as a young school boy, every morning on his way to school he would briefly stop at the temple and pray the goddess for a pair of shoes. When he had finally got a pair of shoes, he prayed, “Let me never lose them.” When Sahib wears pairs of discarded tennis shoes due to a hole in one of them, it does not bother him. For one who has walked barefoot even shoes with a hole is a dream comes true. The reality of life is that there are number of innocent children who lose the spring (youth) of their lives under the threat of grinding poverty which exploit them under the demand of nature for satisfying their hunger for their survival. It is not due to lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot, is one explanation. This is only an excuse for the continuing state of poverty which is the cause of the children staying barefoot in cities or on village roads.

3.      Who is Saheb? What is he looking for in the garbage dumps and where has he come from?

Ans. Ans: Saheb is a rag-picker of Seemapuri. The writer encounters him every morning scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps in her neighbourhood. He hails from Dhaka and he was migrated from Bangladesh in 1971. His house and fields were destroyed by storm.

4.       Why do these children remain barefoot?

Ans: Throughout the country the author has seen many barefoot rag picker children. On asking about not wearing chappals, they many excuses. One says that his mother has not brought them down from the shelf. Another point out that he will throw them if she brings. The third one replies that it is an excuse. It is not the lack of money.

5.       What is the condition of the children working in the glass factory/ furnaces of Firozabad?

Ans: More than 20,000 children are illegally working in glass blowing factories in Firoza- bad. They work around furnaces in high temperatures to weld glasses. They work in dingy cells without light and air. Their eyes are adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. Many of them become victims of losing their eye-sight before they become adults. They work all day long.

6.      Who is Mukesh? What is his dream?

Ans: He belongs to the family of bangle maker in Firozabad where each family is engaged in bangle making. They live in half built huts. Mukesh says. ‘I will be a mother mechanic. I will learn to drive a car.’ Thus he wants to be his own master.

7.      What did author comes to know of the boy one day?

Ans One day author comes to know the boy’s name and his background. His name is Saheb-ei-Alam. He belonged to Bangladesh. But due to frequent storm and flood they left their home and came to India in search of better livelihood.

8.      What did Saheb’s mother tells of their family?

Ans. His mother tells him that they had a home at the green fields of Bangladesh. But due to frequent storm and flood they lost it.

9.      What promise did the author make to Saheb?

Ans. She promised him to open a school.

10.  ‘Garbage to them is gold.’ Why does the author say to about the rag-pickers?

Ans: More than 10,000 rag-pickers of Seemapuri live in squatters. For them is garbage is gold and it is wrapped in wonder. For a child, it is their bread. Sometimes a child can find a silver coin or more in a heap of garbage. For the elders it is a means of survival.

11.  How did Anees Jung feel when Saheb asked of the School?

Ans. The author feel belittle when the boy asked about the opening of the school. Because she didn’t meant opening a school when she asked the boy to join a school.  She just joked about it. 

12.  What does Saheb-ei-Alam mean?

Ans. Saheb-ei-Alam means lord of the universe. The boy doesn’t know the meaning of his name. Author says if he would know he won’t believe it.

13.  .Who is Saheb? What is he looking for in the garbage dumps and where has he come from?

Ans: Saheb is a rag-picker of Seemapuri. The writer encounters him every morning scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps in her neighbourhood. He hails from Dhaka and he was migrated from Bangladesh in 1971. His house and fields were destroyed by storm.

14.  What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing foot wear?

Ans. When the author asked the children why they were always barefoot , one said it was because his mother had not pulled his shoes from the shelf while the other explanation was that it was a tradition in their community to walk barefoot. The author did not quite believe it and realized that it was their perpetual state of poverty which was responsible for their moving around in that manner.

15.  . What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
Ans. Firozabad is famous for bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass blowing industry where families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for women all over India.

16.   How did Saheb manage to embarrass the author?

Ans. The author like many others who gave hollow advice had told Saheb to attend school, only to be informed that there was no school in his locality. She jokingly enquired whether he would enroll in her school if she happened to open one. Saheb happily agreed and a few days later when he met the author he enquired about the school. The author was embarrassed because the promise was not meant to be fulfilled.

17.  ‘Garbage to them is gold.’ Why does the author say so about the rag-pickers?

Ans: More than 10,000 rag-pickers of Seemapuri live in squatters. For them is garbage is gold and it is wrapped in wonder. For a child, it is their bread. Sometimes a child can find a silver coin or more in a heap of garbage. For the elders it is a means of survival.

18.  How is Mukesh different from Saheb?

Ans. Saheb sacrificed his freedom when he took job at the tea stall but Mukesh insisted on being his own master. Though Saheb wanted to study but he was not ready to make effort to get educated, rather he accepted his fate. On the other hand Mukesh was determined to become motor mechanic and was ready to make every possible effort to accomplish his dreams.

19.  What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?

Ans. Lack of education and awareness, stigma of being born in the caste of banglemakers, vicious nexus of sahukars, middlemen, politicians and police suppresses the bangle makers and keep them poverty stricken. Broken spirit, dormant initiative, fear of being beaten and dragged to jail, absence of leadership are the other forces which conspire to keep them in poverty.

20.  What prompted the author to remark that promises like the one she made abound in every corner of Saheb’s bleak world?

Ans. The author had promised to open a school in which Saheb could study but had no intention of doing so. She says that hollow promises like hers guaranteeing a better life were made to the deprived section of the society all the time but were never fulfilled

21.  How did garbage hold different meanings for adults and children?

Ans. For adults rag picking was only a means of survival but for children a lot of excitement was associated with the same for they often found unexpected things as a ten rupee note in the same. There was always a hope of coming across unexpected surprises and so garbage was wrapped in wonder for them.

22.  Through the years rag picking has acquired the ‘proportion of a fine art’ in Seemapuri. Justify the statement.

Ans.The means of survival of migrants of Bangladesh in Seemapuri is rag picking. Garbage to them is gold. Like a fine art that has no end in appealing the sense of beauty the rag picker’s scrounging the garbage is a never ending process which provides them their daily bread day after day.

23.  Why was not Saheb happy on getting a job?
Ans. Saheb was not happy on getting a job in tea stall for a salary of Rs.800/- per month as he lost his freedom. He had to carry the stall owner’s steel canister in place of his bag. He lost his carefree look He was now no longer his own master.

24.  Why does the author say that Seemapuri in spite of being on the periphery of Delhi was miles away from it?

Ans. The author remarks so to highlight the economic disparity between the people of Delhi and the rag pickers of Seemapuri. The opulence of Delhi is in no way related to the dire poverty of the residents of Seemapuri.

25.  How does Mukesh’s grandmother view the family occupation of bangle making and its poverty?

Ans. Mukesh’s grandmother views bangle making as the destiny of her family. Her husband’s blindness, their misfortune and impoverished condition, she feels, are ordained by destiny. Years of suffering makes her accept everything in the name of karma or fate.

26.   Why did not the bangle makers organize themselves into a co-operative?

Ans. Bangle makers did not do so because if they tried to get organized they would be beaten up by the police and dragged to jail for doing something illegal. They had no leader who could show them the way.

27.  What are the two worlds that the author talks about?

Ans. The first one was that of the families of the bangle makers, caught in a web of poverty and burdened by the stigma of the caste to which they belonged. The second one was that of a vicious circle of sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians.

28.  . Explain the significance of title ‘Lost Spring’.

Ans: In this lesson, the author Anees Jung examines and analyses the grinding poverty and tradition that condemn children to a life of exploitation. Saheb as a ragpicker whose parents have left behind a life of abject poverty in Bangladesh. His family, like the many other families of rag pickers lives in Seemapuri. They live in miserable condition. The writer is pained to see Saheb, whose name means the ruler of the Earth, lose the spark of childhood. She then proceeds to tell about Mukesh who does want to be his own master. Hailing from Firozabad, the centre of India’s bangle making and glass blowing industry, he has always worked in the glass making factory. His family does not know that it is illegal for children to work in such close to furnaces with such high temperatures. They are exposed to various health hazards like losing their eyesight as they work in dark and dingy cells. The family of bangle maker of Firozabad are so burdened that they have lost their ability to dream. The writer’s observation is that these poor hopeless people are but pawn in the games that are played by Sahukars, middlemen, the policemen, the bureaucrats and the politicians. The title is meaningful as they lost their spring (childhood). The writer has beautifully essayed the story of stolen childhood with a view to sensitizing us to the plight of these poor unfortunate children.

v  EXTRA QUESTIONS

Short Questions

1.      Where does the author meet Saheb every morning?

2.      What reason did Saheb give for not going to school?

3.      Bring out the contrast drawn between his life in reality and the meaning of his name?

4.      What reason does a person give for walking barefoot? What is the author’s personal opinion regarding this reasoning?

5.      Bring out the difference in the standard of living of the priests of the past and the present?

6.      How does rag picking differ for an adult and for a child?

7.      Why does the hole in the shoe not bother Saheb?

8.      Was Saheb happy with the newfound job? If not, why?

9.       Bring out the horrible condition within the glass blowing industry?

10.   Describe the living condition in Firozabad?

11.  Why does Mukesh`s grandmother feel it a futile exercise for Mukesh to fight taking up the job in glass blowing industry?

12.   Why are they reluctant to form into cooperatives?

13.  What all things comprise the vicious circle from where there is no escape?

14.  Why is daring a difficult task? What cheers the narrator while talking to Mukesh?

15.  Why is Mukesh content to dream only of cars and not of planes?

16.   Why are promises to the poor rarely kept?

Essays

17.  Do you think the child labour law should be enforced? If the child labour law is enforced approximately how many rag pickers and how many bangle makers would be freed from Seemapuri and Firozabad? Envisage the life Saheb and Mukesh would enjoy if they were freed? How would it be different from the present condition?

18.  Bring out from the lesson the pathetic condition of children working in inhuman conditions?

19.  Saheb has lost all the joy and freedom by working in the tea stall where he is no longer his own master. Do you think his decision was wise or could he have made a better choice? Or was it still better to leave him at rag picking where he was his own master?

20.  Draw the similarities between the life of the rag pickers and the bangle makers as portrayed in Lost Spring    

21.  Describe the locality of where Saheb lived. 

22.  “Seemapuri , a place on periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it metaphorically.” Comment.

23.  Why did people migrate from the village in Dhaka to Delhi?

24.   How is the line ‘few airplanes fly over Firozabad’ symbolically significant?

25.  Mention any two hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.

26.  What was the full name of Saheb. Describe the irony of his fate?

27.  “Saheb-e-Alam” – lord of universe-but had to pick rags – was not the master of himself.

28.   What is special about the story of the man from Udipi?

29.  Why do the rag pickers have ration permits but no identity? 

30.   Why did the rag pickers have to leave their green fields in their country ?

31.  How do children of rag pickers become equal partners in survival?

32.  How has “a dream comes true “for Saheb but what is “out of his reach”? (got a pair of shoes, playing tennis was out of his reach)

33.  Who is Mukesh? What is his dream? Why does it look like a ‘mirage amidst the dust’?

34.  How is the bangle industry of Firozabad a curse for childhood ?

35.  What do bangles symbolize? What is ironical in making of bangles by Savita and wearing of bangles by an elderly woman who has no light in her eyes?

36.  Why does the author say that the bangle makers are caught in a vicious web?

37.  What do bangles symbolize? What is ironical in making of bangles by Savita and wearing of bangles by an elderly woman who has no light in her eyes?

38.  Has Firozabad changed with time? Give reasons

39.  ‘Lost Spring’, is a sad commentary on the political system of our country that condemns thousands of people to a life of abject poverty. Comment.

40.  The life of bangle makers of Firozabad was full of obstacles which forced them to lead a life of poverty and deprivation. Discuss with reference to Lost Spring.

41.  The bangle-makers of Firozabad make beautiful bangles and make everyone happy but they live and die in squalor. Elaborate

42.  Give a brief account of the life and activities of the people like Saheb-e-Alam settled in Seemapuri.

43.  'Lost Spring' explains the grinding poverty and traditions that condemn thousands of

44.  People to a life of abject poverty. Do you agree? Why / Why not?

45.  “Seemapuri , a place on periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it metaphorically.” Comment.

46.   Bring out the significance of Mukesh’s dream of becoming a motor mechanic.

47.  “There is a vast gulf that separates dreams from reality” Discuss with special reference to Mukesh and Sahib.

48.  Bring out irony and pathos in the story of Anees Jung.