Lost Spring Class 12 Question Answers | Lost Spring Extra Question Answer/ Notes

Lost Spring Very Short Question : 1 Mark

Question: Who is the author of 'Lost Spring'?

Ans: Anees Jung is the author of 'Lost Spring'.

Question: How much does Saheb earn from his new job in the tea stall?

Ans: Saheb earns 800 rupees and all his meals from his new job in the tea stall.

Question: What does the author of 'Lost Spring' find Saheb doing every morning?

Ans: The author of 'Lost Spring', finds Saheb every morning scrounging for
gold in the garbage dumps.

Question: What does Mukesh want to be ?

Ans: Mukesh wants to be a motor mechanic.

Question: Who is Saheb?

Ans: Saheb is a young ragpicker, now
lives in Seemapuri. He was originally from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Question: Where is the original home of Saheb?

Ans: The original home of Saheb is in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Question: What does Saheb do every day. ?

Ans: Everyday, Saheb scrounges the garbage dumps in order to find gold.

Question: What does Saheb look for
in the garbage dumps ?

Ans: Saheb looks for something valuable
as gold in the garbage dumps.

Question: What is Saheb's full name ?

Ans: The full name of Saheb is Saheb-e-Alam.

Question: What is the meaning of Saheb's
full name or Saheb-e-Alam ?

Ans: The meaning of Sabeb-e-Alam is 'lord of the universe'.

Question: Where is Seemapuri ?

Ans: Seemapuri is on the periphery of Delhi.

Question: What is Mukesh's dream?

Ans: Mukesh's dream is to become a motor mechanic.

Question: Who is the in charge of Mukesh's household?

Ans: The wife of Mukesh's elder brother is the in charge of his household.

Short Question : 2 Marks

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

Ans: Saheb is looking for gold in the garbage dumps. Now, he is in Seemapuri and he has come from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Question: what explanation does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear

Ans: The author offers an explanation that some say, staying barefoot is not the lack of money but a tradition. But the author thinks that it is only an excuse to explain away a perpetual state grinding poverty.

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

Ans: No, Saheb doesn't seem to be happy at all, working at the tea-stall. He has lost his carefree look. The steel canister of the tea-stall seems much heavier than his plastic bag of rags he would carry so lightly ever his shoulder. Saheb is no longer his own master!

Question: What makes the city of Firozabad famous ? OR
What is Firozabad famous for and how?

Ans: Firozabad is famous for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. It is the centre of glass-blowing industries of India, where the people have been making bangles from generation to generation for Indian women.

Question: Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.

Ans: About 20,000 children are working in the glass bangles industry of Firozabad. It is illegal to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in a dingy cells without air and light. They live in the stinking lanes full of garbage. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light. They become blind before they are adults. Most of them become blind with the dust from polishing the glass bangles.

Question: How is Mukesh's attitude to his situation different from that of his family?

Ans: Bangle making is the tradition of the people of Firozabad. They consider it as a 'God-made lineage' which they should not break. Mukesh's father knows nothing except of making bangles and he has taught what he knows. He didn't send his two sons to school.

   But Mukesh is different from his family. He wants to be a motor mechanic and to do so, he has the required determination. He wants to drive cars, of course, he can never dream of flying a plane.

Question: what could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?

Ans: People migrate from villages to cities due to the problem of land and it is because of increasing population. When the villagers fail to provide the means of livelihood, they have to migrate to cities. Poverty, unemplo- yment, the destruction of traditional arts and crafts and natural calamities are some of the reasons.

Question: Would you agree that promises
made to poor children are rarely kept?
Why do you think this happens in the
incidents narrated in the text ?

Ans: Yes, I agree that promises made to the poor children are rarely kept. Having known that Saheb was not going to school because of unavailability of schools around his neighbourhood, the author Anees Jung asked Saheb half-jokingly if he would join her school when she would start her school, although her promise was hollow. Many of such hollow promises are made to poor children but not fulfilled due to lack of sincerity or excuse of lack of funds.

Question: What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?

Ans: Many forces conspire to keep the workers in poverty. They are not allowed to form any organisation. The middle men exploit them. The police men harrass them. The money lenders suck their blood. The administration is also dumb to speak against such injustice. Law is only used like a toy by the rich.

Question: How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream?

Ans: Mukesh wants to be the master of his own. Fortune favours the brave and so mukesh should not lose heart. He can realise his dream by working at some garage and getting the training of a motor mechanic.

Question: Why should child labour be eliminated and how?

Ans: child labour should be eliminated because this is against humanity and civilization. Childhood is the most tender age. A child needs love and care. It has some dreams which can change their life.
But the hard reality destroy their whole life.

    Child labour can be eliminated by enforcing the law, punishing the culprit of child labour and taking good care of poor children.

Question: What is ironical about the name Saheb-e-Alam'?

Ans: The name 'Saheb-e-Alam' stands
for the meaning - 'lord of the universe' but the irony of it is that Saheb doesn't know the meaning of his name. Moreover, he was just a poor ragpicker, so his name is completely different from his job.

Lost Spring Long Question : 5 Marks

Question: Describe the miserable plight of the people of Firozabad.

Ans: Firozabad is the main centre of India's glass blowing industry where families have been working from generation to generation around furnaces. More than 20,000 of child labourers have to work in the glass chambers with high temperature, without sufficient air and light. That is why they have to lose their eyesight. People of Firozabad stick to the family business trend, they never could think of doing something new for the vicious middlemen, police and politicians. Even the bone-breaking monsters of the day doesn't give them opportunity to have some initiative or dreaming new things. Even after their day long hardwork they never enjoyed one full meal in their entire life. But they didn't have another option. They make bangles, or work in hot glass furnaces where they had to lose their eyesight because of the dust of polishing glasses, but they have to live and earn for the family facing these hard situations.

Question : Who is Saheb and what is ironical about his name? Describe Saheb's life of the barefoot army of ragpickers in Seemapuri.

Ans: Saheb is the young ragpicker boy. The name 'Saheb-e-Alam' stands for the meaning - 'lord of the universe' but the irony of it is that Saheb doesn't know the meaning of his name. Moreover, he was just a poor ragpi- cker, so his name is completely different from his job.

   The barefoot ragpicker like Saheb who appears like the birds in the morning and disappears at noon. These ragpicker boys were so poor that they live in Seemapuri without the least facilities for survival; identity permission doesn't matter for them, what matters for them is food. They are squatters who came from Bangladesh in 1971. Children like Saheb had grown up there and became partners for their parents in survival. Garbage for them is gold, their daily bread and mostly it is wonder for children. A pair of shoes is a fancy thing for them, but though Saheb got a pair of shoes with a hole in the garbage, he wears it happily.

Question : Describe the bangle makers of Firozabad. How does the vicious circle of the Sahukars and the middlemen never allow them to come out of their poverty?

Ans: Firozabad is the centre of India's glass industry where with the other labourers 20,000 child labourers work. They had to work in glass furnaces, and because of not sufficient air and daylight they lost their eyesight. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside, so they even lose their eyesight before they become adults.

  The thing happens with the bangle maker, these poor trend holders never enjoyed one full meal in life. They believe that their work is god-given, and never be broken the trend by the family. So from forefathers they make bangles but never attain a good economic condition for living.

  Even if they want to come out from the vicious circle of Sahukar, and the middlemen they would be pulled by police unlawfully and be beaten or sent to jail without any offence.