LOST SPRING

By Anees Jung

Part 1: Sometimes I Find a Rupee in the Garbage

A. Answer the following in 30-40 words each.

1. Who was Saheb? What was he doing and why?

Ans. Saheb was a young boy of school-going age. Like other people of his community, he is a ragpicker and lives in the slum of Seemapuri. His family had left their home in Dhaka, Bangladesh and came to the big city in search of living.

2. “But promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak world.” What was the promise? Was it fulfilled?

Ans. The promise was of building a school. The author made it when Saheb promised that he would go to school they build one. After few days Saheb met the author, he asked her if the school was ready. The The author felt embarrassed. She had made a promise that was not meant.

3. What is the meaning of Saheb’s full name? What is ironical about it?

Ans. Saheb’s full name is “Saheb-e-Alam”. It means the lord of the universe. He does not know it. If he knew it, he would hardly believe it. He roams the streets barefoot with other rag-pickers. The lord of the universe is living the life of destitute.

4. 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. They search it excitedly. For children, garbage is wrapped in wonder. For the elders it is a means of survival. They run their family by selling what they find in it. Thus, garbage has two different meanings.

5. Why does the writer say, “Seemapuri is a place on the periphery of Delhi. Yet miles away from it”?

Ans. The author says so because Seemapuri does not have even the basic necessities and facilities of life such as proper food, clothes, sanitation, drinking water, and shelter. The people there are forced to live in extreme impoverished condition. Delhi, despite being the Capital of India, where all the developmental policies of the nation are framed, is unable to help them in any manner.

6. What explanation does the author give about 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.

7. What is “a dream come true” for Saheb?

Ans. Saheb is likes the game of tennis very much. He stands by the fenced gate of a neighborhood club and watches the men playing it. He is also wearing discarded shoes of a rich boy. One of them has a whole in it, but Saheb does not bother about the hole. For one who has walked barefoot, even shoes with a hole is a dream come true.

8. Explain: “But the game he is watching so intently is out of his reach.”

Ans. Saheb is likes the game of tennis very much. He can watch it from the fence of the club. He has also got the discarded shoes of rich boy, but the game is beyond of his reach because this game requires money to buy the things to play it and Saheb can never afford it.

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

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.

Part 2: I Want to Drive a Car

B. Answer the following in 30-40 words each.

1. 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 of the country.

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

Ans. Whole family with elders and children spend whole day sitting in dark hutments, next to the flames of flickering oil lamps. 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 the eyes and the lungs.

3. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?

Ans. Mukesh’s family represents the bangle makers of Firozabad. His grandmother thinks that God has made them poor bangle makers and they can not do anything to change their destiny. 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. He seems determined to break the ‘God-given lineage’.

4. What do you know about the “frail young woman” in the chapter ‘Lost Spring’?

Ans. The young woman is the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother. Her eyes are filled with the smoke of firewood. Though not much older in years, she commands respect as the daughter- in-law of the house. She adheres to customs and traditions. She veils her face before male elders and gently withdraws behind the broken wall at their sight.

5. How would you regard Mukesh’s father’s life and achievement?

Ans. Mukesh’s father was born in the caste of bangle-makers. His father went blind with the dust from polishing the glass of bangles. He is an old and poor bangle-maker. He has worked hard for long years, first as a tailor and then as a bangle-maker. Unlike most of the bangle makers, he has managed to build a house for his family.

6. Which two “distinct worlds” does the author notice among the bangle-making industry?

Ans. One world is the families of the bangle-makers who are caught in the web of poverty. They are also burdened by the stigma of the caste in which they are born. They know no other work. The other world is the vicious circle of the moneylenders, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of the law, the bureaucrats, and the politicians. They enjoy all the privileges and luxuries of life.

7. Why do the bangle-makers not organize themselves into a cooperative?

Ans. Most of the young bangle-makers have fallen into the traps of the middlemen. They are also afraid of the police. They know that the police will haul them up, beat them and drag to jail for doing something illegal. There is no leader among them to help them see things differently. Their fathers are equally tired. They can do nothing except carrying on their inherited business.

C. Answer the following in 150 words each.

1. Describe the living conditions of rag-pickers and the bangle-makers.

OR

2. What solutions does the author offer for the rag-pickers and the bangles-makers?

OR

3. Compare and contrast Saheb and Mukesh with special reference to their personality traits.

Ans. Saheb-e-Alam and Mukesh are the main characters of the two accounts given in the chapter Lost Spring. Both are the victims of poverty and callousness of society. Whereas Saheb accepts his lot without any fight against destiny, Mukesh seems determined to change it.

Saheb is originally from Dhaka, Bangladesh and now they live in Seemapuri, on the periphery of Delhi. They do not have even the basic necessities and facilities of life. The people there are forced to live in extreme impoverished conditions. Like others, Saheb is also a rag-picker because this is the only option available for them. In the end, he is found with a steel canister too heavy for him. He is now working on a tea stall for Rs. 800 and all his meals. Though food is no problem now, his face has lost the carefree look. The steel canister in his hand seems a burden. He is no longer his own master. He has no dreams of his own and resigns to his own fate.

Mukesh lives in Firozabad and works in a glass bangle making factory. Belonging to a family of bangle makers, he is engaged in the same profession. However, he is a boy with self-determination and wants to be his own master. Mukesh wants to come out of the family business and become a motor mechanic. Though the garage is far away from his home, he will go to a garage and learn. He seems determined to break the ‘God-given lineage’.