Noted by P.B.
1.What is ‘Lost Spring’ about ?
1.What is ‘Lost Spring’ about ?
Ans: The spring of life is the childhood stage. But, several children waste this spring in the garbage, in the blast furnaces and other works. So, it is called ‘Lost spring’ for them. In the lesson, “Lost Spring”, Mukesh, Saheb and Sabita are referred to ‘Lost Spring’.
2.Where was the original home of Sahebs family?
Ans: The original home of Saheb’s family was in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Their family migrated from Bangladesh to Seemapuri in 1971.
3.What do the rag pickers of Seemapuri conside garbage to be?
Ans: The rag pickers of Seemapuri consider garbage to be gold. For them, it is their daily/everyday bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. But for a child, it is even more that they find some times a rupee or a ten rupee in it.
4.What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
Or What is Firozabad famous for and how ?
Ans: The city of Firozabad is famous for its bangles. This city produces different bangles for the women of India. All the colours of bangle like sunny gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink, purple, and the seven rainbow colours product here. So, it is more famous for bangle making in India.
5.Describe the miserable condition/plight of the people of Seemapuri.
Ans: There are 10,000 ragpickers living in Seemapuri. The people of Seemapuri live in very bad condition/miserable condition. They have lived here for more than thirty years. But, they have no an identity. Also, they have been staying without permits. Instead, they have ration cards that get their names on voters’ lists and enable them to buy grain. In structures of mud, there are roofs of tin and tarpaulin. They live devoid of sewage, drainage and running water.
Food is more important for survival than an identity in Seemapuri. The survival in Seemapuri is/means rag-picking. It has acquired the proportion of a fine art. Garbage to them is gold. It is their daily bread, a roof over their heads even if it is a leaking roof. But for a child, it is even more that they find some times a rupee or ten rupee in it.
6.How much Saheb earns from his new job in the tea stall? Is he happy working at the tea-stall and why?
Ans: Saheb earns 800 rupees from his new job in the tea stall.
He is not so happy/satisfied with working at the tea-stall. Because, he has lost the carefree look. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag of his. The reason is that the bag was his own but the canister belongs to the owner of the tea shop. Now, Saheb is no longer his own master.
7.What is ironical about the name ‘Saheb-e-Alam’?
Ans: The original name of Saheb is Saheb-e-Alam. It means lord of the universe or God. The ironical thing is that Saheb, the lord of the universe, roams the street with his friends and an army of barefoot boys who appears like the morning birds and disappears at noon. Even he does not know the meaning of the word.
8. Describe the miserable condition/plight of the people of Firozabad.
Ans: Firozabad is famous for its bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass blowing industry. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. More than 20000 children also engage on it. None of them know that it is illegal. The children work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells without air and light. They slog their daylight hours an often losing the brightness of their eyes.
They live in stinking lanes choked with garbage where they remain hovels with crumbling walls, wobbly doors and no windows. They live in crowded with families of humans and animals coexisting in a primeval state. They was born in the cast of bangle makers. They have seen nothing except bangles, in the house, in the yard, in every other house, every other yard, every street in Firozabad. All the colours of bangle like sunny gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink, purple, and the seven rainbow colours product here. In the dark hutments and flames of flickering oil lamps, all the boys, girls, fathers, mothers and every else are welding pieces of coloured glass into circles of bangles. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. That is why they often end up losing their eyesight before they become adults. They have not enjoyed even one full meal in their entire lifetime. They do not know anything except bangles. They cannot dare to change it for the police and the middlemen.
9.What does the author of “Lost Spring” find Saheb doing every morning ?
Ans: The author of “Lost Spring” finds Saheb scrounging/searching for gold or rupee in the garbage dumps every morning.
10.What does Mukesh want to be ?
Ans: Mukesh wants to be a motor mechanic.
11.What does Saheb look for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he come from ?
Ans: Saheb is looking for gold or rupee in the garbage dumps.
He is living in Seemapuri at the outskirts of Delhi.
He has come from Dhaka in Bangladesh.
12.What explanation does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?
Or: What explanation do the boys that not wearing footwear ?
Ans: Travelling across the country, the author had seen that children walking barefoot in cities and on village roads. One boy mentioned that his mother had not brought them down from the shelf. Another one commented on this that even if his mother had done this, he would throw them off. The third boy expressed that he wanted shoes. It is not lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot, is one explanation. But the author wondered that if this was only an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty.
13.Who is Savita ?
Ans: Savita is a young girl who works of soldering pieces of glass. She wears a drab pink dress.
14.Why is Mukesh realistic about his dreams?
Ans: Mukesh is born in a bangle making family. He does not like to do bangle making like others. He wants to become a motor mechanic. But, he is totally different in this situation from his poor family. In spite of this, he wants to go to a garage and to take some required training for this work.
15.Where does Mukesh live?
Ans: Mukesh lives in Firozabad.
16. Describe Mukesh’s family?
Ans: Mukesh House: Mukesh house is a half-built shack. In one part is thatched with dead grass and is a firewood stove over which sits a large vessel of sizzling spinach leaves. On the ground, in large aluminium platters are more chopped vegetables. A frail young woman, is the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother, is cooking the evening meal.
17. Who is the author of ‘Lost Spring’ ?
Ans: Anees Jung is the author of ‘Lost Spring’.
18. What is the original book from which this prose piece is an excerpt ?
Ans: The prose piece is an excerpt from the book, ‘Lost Spring, Stories of stolen Childhood’.
19.Who is Saheb ?
Ans: Saheb is a young ragpicker. He scrounges the garbage dumps for Gold and money. He and his family live in Seemapuri. They migrated/came from Dhaka, Bangladesh.
20.Whom does the author encounter everyday in the street ?
Ans: The author encounters Saheb everyday in the street.
21.What does Saheb do everyday ?
Or: What does Saheb look for in the garbage dumps ?
Ans: Everyday, Saheb scrounges/searches the garbage dumps for getting some valuable things or gold and money.
22.Where is the original home of Saheb ?
Ans: The original home of Saheb is Dhaka, Bangladesh.
23.Why have Saheb and his family migrated to Seemapuri ?
Ans: Saheb and his family have migrated to Seemapuri from Dhaka, Bangladesh because the storm had swept away his home and their green fields.
24.What is Saheb’s full name ? What is the meaning of Saheb’s full name?
Ans: Saheb’s full name is Saheb-e-Alam. The meaning of Saheb’s full name is ‘lord of the universe’.
25. Whom did Saheb observe standing at the fenced gate of the neighbourhood club ?
Ans: Saheb observed the two young men who dressed in white clothes. They were playing tennis and Saheb Observed standing at the fenced gate of the neighbourhood club.
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