THE LOST SPRING

ANEES JUNG

Spring is the Season of optimism and hope. Spring is the metaphor of

childhood stage in a person’s life. From birth till late childhood, life for every
child is almost the beginning of a bright and a shiny future. Childhood is
featured by innocence, physical stamina and vitality, tremendous urge for the
outdoors and a tremendous appetite for fun and play. Activities have no limits.
It is also the stage for gaining skill and knowledge, learning and going to
school.

The lost spring by Anees Jung is an expression of national shame of children

condemned to poverty and a life of exploitation. The two protagonists of the
chapter, Saheb-e-Alam and Mukesh lose their childhood in carrying the burden
of poverty and illiteracy. In their bleak stories of exploitation, the author finds
glimpses of resilience and fortitude.

‘Sometimes I find a Rupee in the garbage

Saheb and his family have left their homes and green fields in Dhaka to settle in
Seemapuri. They had left Dhaka because of storms and floods. They feel it is
better to be without identity than going hungry.

Seemapuri is geographically close to Delhi, but its traditions, standard of life

and people are far away from Delhi. Seemapuri was a deserted area when the
Bangladeshis arrived here three decades ago. They were forced to come here
due to the natural disasters in Bangladesh. They loved Seemapuri because they
could survive here. They had food and shelter here.

The author’s description of the life of the rag pickers in Seemapuri is touching.
10,000 people have come as squatters, staying in structures of mud, with roofs
of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. Squatters
are persons who unlawfully occupy an uninhabited building or unused land.
They have stayed there without any identity but food is more important than
identity. Their fields in Dhaka could not give them food whereas being rag
pickers, they don’t go hungry. In Seemapuri survival means rag picking. The
elders have made it their profession for a fixed wages whereas for the children
rag picking is a game of treasure-hunting. They work through the garbage with

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a hope that one day they would get a gold coin or a rupee note from the
garbage heap

Through years rag picking has acquired the proportions of a fine art. Like any
other art form, rag picking possesses certain talents and rules. One needs
guidance and inborn talents to be a successful rag picker. He should know
where to find garbage, what to take, what to ignore, what time is best for it
and so on. In Seemapuri every child is skilled in this art form.

Saheb-e-Alam doesn’t know the meaning of his name – lord of the universe-
which he is not. He was a rag picker. He and his fellow rag pickers are
barefooted and the reason one of them gives is his mother does not bring his
shoes down from the shelf. The author has met many barefooted children
roaming around. The reason is that it is not lack of money but a tradition to
stay barefoot. According to Anees Jung, it is just an excuse to explain their
state of poverty.

Education has brought timely changes in many people’s lifestyle like the priest
from Udipi and his son. A man from Udipi once told the author his own story
when he was a boy and his father a priest in the temple. As a young boy he
would go to school past this old temple and stop briefly to pray for a pair of
shoes. Thirty years later when the author visited his town and the temple, she
saw a lot of modern instances in the town and lifestyle of the people. The
priest’s son now goes to school, wearing shoes and socks carrying a school
bag. The author means to indicate the timely changes education brings to
people and how the illiterate rag pickers remain unchanged, carrying the
rotten traditions. The rag pickers have no way out of poverty since they have
no chance to go to school and be educated.

Saheb is now employed in a tea shop with a fixed wage of 800 rupees and all
meals. He is not happy as he has lost his freedom as he is bound to the owner
of the tea stall who is his master. He is no longer his own master.

The title ‘Lost Spring’ is justified in the first part as Saheb-e-Alam’s childhood –
his spring time is lost first in picking rags and then in working for a master.

SHORT QUESTION ANSWERS

Q.1.Who is Saheb? What is he looking for in the garbage dumps and where has
he come from?

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Ans: Saheb is a rag-picker of Seemapuri. The writer encounters him every
morning scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps in her neighbourhood. He
hails from Dhaka and he was migrated from Bangladesh in 1971. His house and
fields were destroyed by storm.

Q2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing foot
wear?
When the author asked the children why they were always barefoot, one said it
was because his mother had not pulled his shoes from the shelf while the other
explanation was that it was a tradition in their community to walk barefoot.
The author did not quite believe it and realized that it was their perpetual state
of poverty which was responsible for their moving around in that manner.

Q3. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?

Firozabad is famous for bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in
making bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass blowing industry where families
have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making
bangles for women all over India.

Q4.Why was not Saheb happy on getting a job?

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

Q5. What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of
Firozabad in poverty?
Lack of education and awareness, stigma of being born in the caste of
banglemakers, vicious nexus of sahukars, middlemen, politicians and police
suppresses the bangle makers and keep them poverty stricken. Broken spirit,
dormant initiative, fear of being beaten and dragged to jail, absence of
leadership are the other forces which conspire to keep them in poverty.

Q6. How did Saheb manage to embarrass the author?

Ans. The author like many others who gave hollow advice had told Saheb to
attend school, only to be informed that there was no school in his locality. She
jokingly enquired whether he would enroll in her school if she happened to
open one. Saheb happily agreed and a few days later when he met the author

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he enquired about the school. The author was embarrassed because the
promise was not meant to be fulfilled.

Q7. What prompted the author to remark that promises like the one she made
abound in every corner of Saheb’s bleak world?
Ans. The author had promised to open a school in which Saheb could study but
had no intention of doing so. She says that hollow promises like hers
guaranteeing a better life were made to the deprived section of the society all
the time but were never fulfilled.

Q8. ‘Garbage to them is gold.’ Why does the author say so about the rag-
pickers?
Ans: More than 10,000 rag-pickers of Seemapuri live in squatters. For them is
garbage is gold and it is wrapped in wonder. For a child, it is their bread.
Sometimes a child can find a silver coin or more in a heap of garbage. For the
elders it is a means of survival.

Q9. Why does the author say that Seemapuri in spite of being on the periphery
of Delhi was miles away from it?
Ans. The author remarks so to highlight the economic disparity between the
people of Delhi and the rag pickers of Seemapuri. The opulence of Delhi is in no
way related to the dire poverty of the residents of Seemapuri.

Q10. Through the years rag picking has acquired the ‘proportion of a fine art’ in
Seemapuri. Justify the statement.
Ans.. The means of survival of migrants of Bangladesh in Seemapuri is rag
picking. Garbage to them is gold. Like a fine art that has no end in appealing the
sense of beauty the rag picker’s scrounging the garbage is a never ending
process which provides them their daily bread day after day.

Q11. How did garbage hold different meanings for adults and children?
Ans. For adults rag picking was only a means of survival but for children a lot of
excitement was associated with the same for they often found unexpected
things as a ten rupee note in the same. There was always a hope of coming
across unexpected surprises and so garbage was wrapped in wonder for them.

Q12. How does Mukesh’s grandmother view the family occupation of bangle
making and its poverty?

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Ans. Mukesh’s grandmother views bangle making as the destiny of her family.
Her husband’s blindness, their misfortune and impoverished condition, she
feels, are ordained by destiny. Years of suffering makes her accept everything
in the name of karma or fate.

Q13. Why did not the bangle makers organize themselves into a co-operative?
Ans. Banglemakers did not do so because if they tried to get organized they
would be beaten up by the police and dragged to jail for doing something
illegal. They had no leader who could show them the way.

Q14. What are the two worlds that the author talks about?
Ans. The first one was that of the families of the bangle makers, caught in a
web of poverty and burdened by the stigma of the caste to which they
belonged. The second one was that of a vicious circle of sahukars, the
middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the
politicians.

Q15. How is Mukesh different from Saheb?

Ans. Saheb sacrificed his freedom when he took job at the tea stall but Mukesh
insisted on being his own master. Though Saheb wanted to study but he was
not ready to make effort to get educated, rather he accepted his fate. On the
other hand Mukesh was determined to become motor mechanic and was ready
to make every possible effort to accomplish his dreams.

QUESTIONS FOR PRACTICE

1. What is special about the story of the man from Udipi?

2. Why do the rag pickers have ration permits but no identity? (can vote ,
get food at subsidized rates)
3. Why did the rag pickers have to leave their green fields in their country?
4. How do children of rag pickers become equal partners in survival?
5. How has “a dream come true “for Saheb but what is “out of his reach”?
(got a pair of shoes, playing tennis was out of his reach)
6. Who is Mukesh? What is his dream? Why does it look like a ‘mirage
amidst the dust’?
7. How is the bangle industry of Firozabad a curse for childhood?

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 8. What do bangles symbolize? What is ironical in making of bangles by
Savita and wearing of bangles by an elderly woman who has no light in
her eyes?Has Firozabad changed with time ? Give reasons.
9. Why does the author say that the bangle makers are caught in a vicious
web?

LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS

Q1 ‘Lost Spring’, is a sad commentary on the political system of our country
that condemns thousands of people to a life of abject poverty. Comment.
Value Points:
Saheb, optimistic and enthusiastic—prospect of finding gold in garbage
—likes going to school but no opportunity—freedom and joy of
childhood to burdens of job at tea-stall.
Mukesh, born at Firozabad (bangle maker)—works under inhuman
condition—dark room, hot furnaces—caught in web of poverty—vicious
circle of sahukars, policemen, politicians, bureaucrats and moneylenders
—resigned to fate—unaware of child labour act—stifled initiation and
hope—lose eyesight before becoming adults

Q2 How is the line ‘few airplanes fly over Firozabad’ symbolically significant?

 The author finds a spark of motivation in Mukesh who is quite

determined about realizing his dream of becoming a motor mechanic
 He is ready to walk to a garage far from his home
 The author asks if he ever dreams of flying a plane- the question
embarrasses him and Mukesh replies in the negative
 He is satisfied with the more tangible and attainable dream related to the
fast moving cars that he saw on the streets each day
 Airplanes symbolize something distant, just like a far-fetched dream –
people of Firozabad were not exposed to grand dreams like that.

Q3 The life of bangle makers of Firozabad was full of obstacles which forced
them to lead a life of poverty and deprivation. Discuss with reference to Lost
Spring.
Value Points:
• Bangle makers born in poverty, live in poverty, die in poverty.
• For generations people have been engaged in this trade.
• Work in inhuman conditions.
• Although they work hard but the profit is meagre.

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• Their hovels have crumbling walls, wobbly doors and no windows.
• They are overcrowded with humans and animals.
• Social customs, traditions, stigma of caste and people in authority combine
so that
they remain poor and uneducated
• Money lenders, middlemen, politicians and policemen are all against them.
• Unable to organize themselves into a co-operative due to lack of a leader.
• They have lost the ability to dream.
• They can only talk but not act to improve their lot

Q4 The bangle-makers of Ferozabad make beautiful bangles and make

everyone happy but they live and die in squalor. Elaborate
Value points
— utter poverty generation after generation
—–believe they are destined to work in bangle factories
—-make beautiful bangles but live in dark
—–bright furnaces to do welding
—-they lose their eyesight
—-victims of vicious circle of middlemen
—law enforcing authorities prey upon them
— bleak future

Q5 Give a brief account of the life and activities of the people like Saheb-e-Alam
settled in Seemapuri.
Value points:
– poor rag pickers / unschooled / barefoot / sometimes taking up odd jobs like
working at tea stalls
– garbage to them is gold, it is their daily bread
– migrants (squatters) from Bangladesh, came to Delhi in 1973
– their fields and homes swept away in storms
– live in structures of mud with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage,
drainage or running water
– have lived for more than 30 years without identity, without permits but with
ration cards
– no intention of going back to their own country
– wherever they find food, they pitch their tents

Q6 ‘Lost Spring’ explains the grinding poverty and traditions that condemn
thousands of

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people to a life of abject poverty. Do you agree? Why / Why not?
Yes – duly supported by examples from text
– both caught in the vicious cycle of poverty, apathy, affected by the greed
ofothers, injustice
– lost childhood – spring of life
Mukesh’s story – bangle making industry
– caught in the web of middlemen, politicians, policemen, the keepers of law,
bureaucrats
– lose all spirit and ability to dream
Saheb-a-Alam’s story
– rag picker, scrounging for gold, walking bare foot, got job, not happy
because
no freedom, lost childhood
– any other relevant point

Q7. Explain the significance of title ‘Lost Spring’.

Ans: In this lesson, the author Anees Jung examines and analyses the grinding
poverty and tradition that condemn children to a life of exploitation.
Saheb as a ragpicker whose parents have left behind a life of abject poverty in
Bangladesh. His family, like the many other families of rag pickers lives in
Seemapuri. They live in miserable condition. The writer is pained to see Saheb,
whose name means the ruler of the Earth, lose the spark of childhood. She
then proceeds to tell about Mukesh who does want to be his own master.
Hailing from Firozabad, the centre of India’s bangle making and glass blowing
industry, he has always worked in the glass making factory. His family does not
know that it is illegal for children to work in such close to furnaces with such
high temperatures. They are exposed to various health hazards like losing their
eyesight as they work in dark and dingy cells. The family of bangle maker of
Firozabad are so burdened that they have lost their ability to dream. The
writer’s observation is that these poor hopeless people are but pawn in the
games that are played by Sahukars, middlemen, the policemen, the
bureaucrats and the politicians.
The title is meaningful as they lost their spring (childhood). The writer has
beautifully essayed the story of stolen childhood with a view to sensitizing us
to the plight of these poor unfortunate children.

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Q8 “Seemapuri , a place on periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it
metaphorically.” Comment.
Q9 Bring out the significance of Mukesh’s dream of becoming a motor
mechanic.
Q10 “There is a vast gulf that separates dreams from reality” Discuss with
special reference to Mukesh and Sahib.
Q11 Bring out irony and pathos in the story of Anees Jung.