LOST SPRING-ANEES JUNG

SUMMARY
The sad position of poor children who are forced to have a wretched life and forgo
the fun times of childhood due to their social circumstances is the subject of the
story “Lost Spring.” These children are compelled to labour from an early age and
are not given the opportunity to pursue an education. Anees Jung, the writer,
makes a concerted effort to end child labour. She advocates for government
enforcement of strict laws prohibiting child work as well as enforce the education
of children. The word was spread so that child exploitation might be stopped and
all children could enjoy their happy, springtime days. She talks about her
encounter with a slum dweller kid named Saheb-e-Alam who is a ragpicker and
wishes to play tennis and go to a school. However, these wishes remain unfulfilled.
Another boy named Mukesh hails from a family of bangle makers from Firozabad.
Their lives are miserable because the profession does not provide a good livelihood
and harms them physically too. The boy dreams to do something different but his
dreams are restricted to the life that he has seen in his hometown. He aspires to
become a car mechanic.
MIND MAP
ASSERTION REASON QUESTION
Assertion (A): Saheb was unhappy working at the tea stall.
Reason (R): He lost his freedom and identity after taking the job.
Options:
A. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.
B. Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A.
C. A is true, but R is false.
D. A is false, but R is true.
Answer: A. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.

“I will learn to drive a car,” he answers, looking straight into my eyes. His
dream looms like a mirage amidst the dust of streets that fill his town Firozabad,
famous for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making
bangles. It is the center of India’s glass-blowing industry where families have
spent generations working around furnaces, wielding glass,
making bangles for all the women in the land it seems. Mukesh’s family is
among them. None of them know that it is illegal for children like him to work in
the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells without air and light;
that the law, if enforced, could get him and all those 20,000 children out of the
hot furnaces where they slog their daylight hours, often losing the brightness of
their eyes. Mukesh’s eyes beam as he volunteers to take me home, which he
proudly says is being rebuilt.
1. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE with reference to the
extract?
A. Children work in badly lit and inadequately ventilated furnaces.
B. The children are not aware that it is forbidden by law to work.
C. Children work in the furnaces for hours which poorly affects their
eyesight.
 D. Firozabad has emerged as a budding producer of bangles in the country.
Ans: D
2. The simile ‘dream looms like a mirage amidst the dust of streets’ indicates
that his dream was
A. a reality, yet seemed distant.
B. lost in the sea of dust.
C. illusory and indistinct.
D. hanging in the dusty air.
Ans: C

3. ‘I will learn to drive a car,’ he answers, looking straight into my eyes.

This sentence highlights Mukesh was
1. Determined 2. Fearless 3. Hopeful 4. Valiant 5. Ambitious 6. stern
A. 1 & 5
B. 2 & 4
C. 2 & 5
D. 3 & 6
Ans: A
4. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles indicates
that
A. bangle making is the only industry that thrives in Firozabad.
B. Everyone in Firozabad works in the bangle industry.
C. majority of the population in Firozabad is involved in bangle making.
D. bangle making is the most favoured occupation in Firozabad.
Ans: C
5. Through the expression “…. looking straight into my eyes” the narrator is
trying to convey_____________
Ans: The determination and courage in Mukesh to express his opinion.
6. Mention any two qualities of Mukesh that can be drawn from the line,
“Mukesh insists on being his own master”
Ans: He wants to be independent and make his own decisions.
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
1. Garbage has two different meanings—one for the children and
another for the adults. Comment.
Ans: For the children garbage has a different meaning from what it means for the
adults. For the children it is wrapped in wonder, their eyes light-up when they find
a rupee or a ten-rupee note in it. They search the garbage excitedly with the hope
of finding something more. But for the elders it is a means of survival.
2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangle industry?
Ans: The people employed in the glass bangle industry were forced to work in
small dingy cells, without air and lighting in the vicinity of furnaces burning at
a very high temperature. A very high percentage of them suffer from failing
eyesight before they reach adulthood. They also face a high risk of going blind
due to the cuts and scratches in their eyes from the glass dust while polishing
the glass bangles.
3. Why does the narrator say ‘Seemapuri is a place on the periphery of
Delhi, yet miles away from it metaphorically’?
Ans: Seemapuri lies in the outskirts of Delhi. It is a slum where ten thousand
rag-pickers live. Over there, people lived in structures made of tin and tarpaulin.
There is no sewage, drainage or running water in Seemapuri. It is unbelievable
that such a horrible place could exist so near the Capital of India. Thus, with
regard to civic amenities, it is miles away from Delhi.
4. What does the writer mean when she says, ‘Saheb is no longer his
own master’?
Ans: Since Saheb now works in a tea-stall, he is now bound to his master
and feels burdened. The steel canister he carries is very heavy as compared
to his light plastic bag. The bag was his own and the canister belongs to his
master whose orders he now has to follow. So, he is no longer his own
master.
5. Why can’t the bangle makers of Firozabad organize themselves into
a cooperative?
Ans: The bangle-makers are caught in a vicious web which starts from
poverty to indifferences then to greed and finally to injustice. Mind-
numbing toil kills their hopes and dreams. The bangle makers of
 Firozabad were not able to organise themselves into a cooperative
because they had got trapped in a vicious circle j of the sahukars, the
middlemen, the policemen, the bureaucrats and the politicians. Together
they had imposed a baggage on these people which they could not put
down.
LONG ANSWER QUESTION
1. What is the significance of the title “Lost Spring”? How is it symbolic of
the lives of the children mentioned in the story?
Ans: The title “Lost Spring” is deeply symbolic and meaningful. Literally,
“spring” refers to the season of hope, growth, and childhood. Symbolically,
it represents the early years of a child’s life—a time meant for learning,
playing, and dreaming. However, the children in the story, like Saheb and
the bangle makers of Firozabad, have lost this precious “spring” of their
lives to poverty, child labor, and social injustice.
For Saheb, a ragpicker from Seemapuri, the joys of childhood are replaced
with the struggle for survival. Despite his name, Saheb-e-Alam (meaning
“Lord of the Universe”), he leads a life of deprivation, collecting garbage to
support his family. His lost spring is a result of economic hardship and
migration from Bangladesh in search of a better life.
Similarly, the children of Firozabad are trapped in the generational cycle of
poverty and are forced into the hazardous work of bangle-making from a
very young age. They lose their health, vision, and dreams to the cruel
demands of tradition and societal indifference.
Thus, the title captures the lost innocence and stunted dreams of countless
children who are denied their right to education, freedom, and a joyful
childhood. It acts as a critique of social structures that rob children of their
most beautiful phase—spring.

2. The bangle makers of Firozabad make beautiful bangles and make

everyone happy but they live and die in squalor. Elaborate.
Ans: Firozabad is the hub of India’s glass-blowing industry where families
have spent generations making bangles to adorn married women. The stark
reality of these families is that in spite of the back breaking hard work that
they put in, they cannot have two square meals a day.
They work in deplorable conditions and many lose their eyesight early. To
top it all, they live in unhygienic conditions where there is a lack of basic
amenities too.
The sad reality is that the workers cannot organise themselves into a
cooperative. They are devoid of all enthusiasm and do not dare to dream of
anything better. The fear of the police and lack of leadership among
themselves have confined them to a vicious circle of poverty, indifference
and greed. Thus, while they bring happiness to everyone’s life, their own life
is steeped in poverty and squalor.