LOST SPRING
The Lost Spring summary describes the terrible condition of poor children.
These children are those who didn’t get to enjoy childhood because of the
prevailing socio-economic condition in this world. This is something that one
can see all over the world. These children don’t have the opportunity for
schooling. Moreover, there is a lot of pressure on these children to enter into
labour early in life. These unfortunate children are forced into labour. This
certainly denies them education as well as the opportunity to have
enjoyment. The author Anees Jung raises voice to eliminate child labour.
Jung does so by raising awareness regarding child education and strict law
enforcement against child labour. The call is to put an end to the exploitation
of children. This way the children will be able to enjoy the days of the spring
and have fun.
Summary Lost Spring
The first part tells the author’s impressions regarding the life of poor rag
pickers. The rag pickers have come from Dhaka. Furthermore, the settlement
of the rag pickers is in the area of Seemapuri. Destruction has come in their
fields and homes due to the storms. They had come to the big city in the
hope of finding living there. However, the reality was, in fact, painful for
them and they had to face many hardships. They are certainly poor and lack
various resources.
The writer watches Saheb every morning as he scrounges for “gold” in the
neighbourhood. The means of survival for these rag pickers is the garbage.
Furthermore, for the children, it is a wondrous thing. The children are able to
find a coin or two from it. These people have ambitions and desires. The
problem is that they do not know the way to make them possible. There are
quite a few things that they are unable to reach. Later Saheb joins a tea stall
where there is a possibility for him to earn 800 Rupees and all the meals.
However, this job has deprived him of his freedom. As such their condition is
pretty hopeless and full of misery.
The second part explores the life of Mukesh. Mukesh is a boy who belongs to
the family of Bangle-makers. Firozabad is famous for its amazing glass-
blowing industry. There is an engagement of nearly 20,000 children in this
particular business. Furthermore, no one over there understands or respects
the law that forbids child labour. Moreover, the living condition, as well as
the working environment, are both horrendous.
These children live in dreary cells. Also, they work close to hot furnaces. This
is certainly very dangerous as it makes these children blind when they enter
adulthood. Furthermore, these children have to deal with the pressure of
debt. Moreover, they are unable to think of a solution to solve this problem.
There is no way for these children to come out of this trap.
The policemen, bureaucrats, middlemen, and politicians will all hinder their
way of progress. The women in the household consider it to be their destiny
or fate. As a result of
such thinking, they just follow the established tradition. There is something
different about Mukesh. He is not like the rest of the folk there. This is
because Mukesh has big dreams. He has a desire to become a motor
mechanic in future. The garage is far away from where he lives but he has
the determination to walk.
Message Lost Spring
Lost Spring summary gives us an analysis of the impoverished condition
faced by many children that condemn them to a life of pain, oppression, and
lack of education.
Read the text given above and answer the following questions:
I. Answer the following questions in 40-50 words each:
1. Why had the ragpickers come to live in Seemapuri?
2. What job did Saheb take up? Was he happy?
3. How is Mukesh different from the other bangle makers of Firozabad?
4. Why could the bangle makers not organise themselves into a cooperative?
5. Is it possible for Mukesh to realise his dream? Justify your answer.
6. Why does the author say that the bangle makers are caught in a vicious
web?
II. Answer the following questions in 100-120 words:
1.’Lost Spring’ explains the grinding poverty and traditions that condemn
thousands of
people to a life of abject poverty. Do you agree? Why/Why not?
2. The bangle makers of Firozabad make beautiful bangles and make
everyone happy
but they live and die in squalor. Elaborate.
III. Reference to Context:
1.“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 centre 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.
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.
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
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.
