Lost Spring

By Anees Jung

About the author

Anees Jung is an author, journalist and columnist for major newspapers in India and abroad. She
was born in Hyderabad in 1944 in an aristocratic family. She started her career in literary writing
with the Youth Times, a Times of India publication. Later she served as its editor from 1976 to
1979. Prior to it, she worked as journalist. Jung came to the limelight with the publication of
“Unveiling India” in 1987. Later she published several books dealing with social issues, including
abused children and women’s problems. Jung is noted for her lively and vivid descriptions, though
she rarely gives solutions.

Characters

Saheb-e-Alam: A rag picker

Mukesh: Son of a bangle maker

Introduction

The story ‘Lost Spring’ describes the pitiable condition of poor children who have been forced to
miss the joy of childhood due to the socio-economic condition that prevails in this man-made world.
These children are denied the opportunity of schooling and forced into labour early in life. Anees
Jung gives voice to eliminate child labour by educating the children and to enforce the laws against
child labour by the governments. The call is to end child exploitation and let the children enjoy their
days of childhood.

Main points

Sometimes I find a rupee in the garbage

1. The writer encounters Saheb every morning scrounging for gold in the garbage. 2.
Saheb-e-Alam, a refugee from Dhaka, Bangladesh is a ragpicker.3. Wants to go to school, but
can’t – very poor. 4. Lives in Seemapuri – a locality on the periphery of Delhi without any basic
amenities. 5. Most of the rag pickers live here. 6. Food is more important for them than identity. 7.
Rag picking is different for children and adult. 8. For adults – a mean of survival 9. For children –
wrapped in wonders 10. Sahib gets a job in tea stall, earns Rs. 800/- and all his meal but still
unhappy 11. Loses his freedom and carefree look.
I want to drive a car

1. The writer comes across Mukesh in Firozabad.

2. His family is engaged in making bangles but Mukesh insists on being his own master. 3. He
desires to become a motor mechanic. 4. They work in dingy cells without air and light and furnaces
with high temperatures. 5. As a result, most of them become blind at a very young age. 6. They
don’t have money to do anything except carry on the business of making bangles. 7. They can’t
organize into a co-operative. 8. They are afraid of being hauled up by the Police, beaten and
dragged to jail for doing something illegal. 9. There is no leader among them. 10. They talk of
poverty, apathy, greed and injustice. 11. So poor that they can’t even dream – to do anything
means to dare – and daring is not part of their life. 12. The author is cheered when she senses a
flash of daring in Mukesh who wants to be a motor mechanic.

Important Short Answer Type Questions

Q1. What does the title ‘Lost Spring’ convey?

Ans. The title ‘Lost Spring’ conveys and picturizes that childhood is like spring. As everything
blooms in this season, in the same way childhood should bloom but through the poverty of Saheb
and Mukesh, we come to know about their stolen childhood. It is being destroyed and dumped in
the web of poverty, dirt and dust.

Q2. What does Anees Jung want to reveal in her story ‘Lost Spring’?

Ans. Anees Jung has portrayed two stories in ‘Lost Spring’ and both depict the grinding poverty,
pitiable condition of life and the other traditions that condemn the children to a life of exploitation.
For the rag-pickers of Seemapuri, garbage is gold and a means of survival. The bangle-makers of
Firozabad live in dingy cells and stinking lanes. Even after much toil, they do not get a full meal.

Q3. What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he come
from?

Ans. Saheb scrounges for anything in the garbage dump that he can sell and make money. This is
the only means of survival. He sometimes manages to find a rupee or even ten rupees. He now
lives with his family in Seemapuri, a slum on the outskirts of Delhi. His family has migrated from
Bangladesh in search of a better life.

Q4. What makes the author embarrassed at having made a promise that was not meant?

Ans. One day the writer asks Saheb why he does not go to school. On second thought, she
realizes that the advice must sound very hollow. On the other hand, Saheb replies that there is no
school in his neighbourhood and he will go if the authorities make one. The writer asks half-jokingly
if she starts a school, whether he will he go. Saheb goes on asking her “Is your school ready?” She
feels embarrassed at having made a promise that was not meant.

Q5. Does the rag picking mean the same thing for parents and children? Give reasons for
your answer.
Ans. No, rag picking is not the same for parents and children. For children it is wrapped in wonders
whereas for parents it is the means of survival.

Q6. Why was not Saheb happy on getting a job?

Ans. Saheb was not happy on getting a job in a 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 had lost his
freedom and carefree look. He was now no longer his own master.

Q7. What was Mukesh’s dream?

Ans. Mukesh belongs to a family of bangle makers. He tells the writer to become a motor
mechanic. He will learn to drive a car and does not hesitate to go to the far off garage. He has no
desire to live and become the victim of poverty.

Q8. Why don’t the bangle makers of Firozabad organize themselves?

Ans. The bangle makers are trapped in the vicious circle of middlemen and police. If they organize
a co-operative, they will be hauled up, beaten and dragged to jail by the police for doing something
illegal. There is no leader to help them out from their misery. They are the victims of greed and
injustice.

Q9. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?

Ans. Mukesh wants to be a motor mechanic and drive a car. He wants to break away from the
generations-old family tradition of bangle making. His family is not as optimistic as he is, but he is
determined and exhibits a spark of courage and hope and dares to dream, even though it means
walking miles to get to the garage.

Q10. Why does the author say that the bangle-makers are caught in a vicious web?

Ans. The family of bangle makers were caught in the vicious web of poverty. They are forced to
practise their ancestral profession. They remain ill-fed and ill-clad throughout life. They have no
money to switch over their profession. Their hard work is mind-numbing. The police do not allow
them to form co-operatives.
 Important Long Answer Type Questions

Q1. How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream?

Ans. Mukesh belongs to the family of bangle- makers who prepare colourful bangles like that of
rainbow. But his attitude to this situation is different from others. He is a daring boy and he
announces, “I will be a motor mechanic, I will learn to drive a car. Though the garage is a long way
from his home yet he insists I will go to the garage and learn.”

The determination and strong will of becoming a motor mechanic and learning to drive a car,
seems to be as firm as a rock in Mukesh. That is why he says he will walk to the garage which is a
long way from his home. Though his dream appears to be vague, unclear and like a mirage, he
has a different ambition to fulfil.

Q2. What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in
poverty?

Ans. The bangle makers firmly believe that having been born in the caste and community of bangle
makers, they cannot escape their fate and must remain where they are. They believe that bangle
making is the only skill they possess and that they must pass on the legacy to their children.
Bangle making is not a lucrative source of income but they have no alternative and hence remain
entrenched in the same. They have fallen into the vicious clutche of middlemen who had trapped
their fathers and their forefathers. They are afraid to form cooperatives to safeguard themselves
because they feel that they will be beaten up by the police and jailed for doing something illegal.
Steeped in despair and apathy, they no longer have the will to aspire and better their lot. Some of
the industrialists conspire in unison with the sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen and the
politicians and then go on exploiting them. They see very little hope of escaping from their
impoverished life of misery and privation.

Q3. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry. / Describe the difficulties
the bangle makers of Firozabad have to face in their lives.

Ans. The glass blowing industry of Firozabad employs local families and these families have spent
generations working around furnaces, welding glass and making bangles of different colours.
Working around the high temperature furnaces is both dangerous and injurious . The dark dingy
cells without light and air worsen the working conditions of the children. The dazzling and sparking
of welding light and the high temperature render the situation hellish. About 20,000 children slog
their daylight hours and often lose the brightness of their eyes before they become adults.

The bangle-makers lead their life in utter misery and grinding poverty. They can never prosper
working in this industry. They hardly get a full of meal in their lifetime. Thus, they are not only
underfed but also prone to ailments. The dingy cells and stinking smell of garbage choke their
bodies. There are flames of flickering oil lamps, the blinding polishing and the welding work put a
deep impact on their bodies. Those who work in bangle industries, lose their eyesight before they
become adult.

In addition to this, they are trapped in a vicious circle of policemen, sahukars, lawmakers,politicians
and bureaucrats and are without any spirited leader.

Q4. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?

Ans. Most people, who have migrated from villages to cities, have done so because of the promise
of a better life. Some of them have not been able to earn any money from farming because of the
vagaries of weather. They have had no jobs and no way of earning a livelihood. Cities provide a
ray of hope as they are a means of escaping from abject poverty and offer hope of some
employment. These people feel that though they may have to live in the most abysmal conditions
in the city, they will get at least some food to eat.