Very Short Questions Answers - 1 Marks
1. Who is the author of ‘Lost Spring’? (AHSEC 2012, 2014)
Answer: Anees Jung is the author of ‘Lost Spring
2. What does Mukesh want to be? Or, what was Mukesh's dream? (AHSEC/ASSEB 2012, 2015,2025)
Answer: Mukesh wants to be a motor mechanic. (For 1 Marks) or,
Mukesh dreamed of becoming a motor mechanic and driving his own car, aspiring to be his own master and not work under anyone. (For 2 Marks)
3. What is ‘Lost Spring’ about? (AHSEC 2013)
Answer: ‘Lost Spring’ is about two poor Indian children Saheb and Mukesh who owing to the grinding poverty had to lose their childhood happiness for the sake of supporting their family.
4. Where was the original home of Saheb’s family? (AHSEC 2013)
Answer: The original home of Saheb is in Dhaka.
5. What does the author of ‘Lost Spring’ find Saheb doing every morning? (AHSEC 2014, 2015)
Answer: The author of The Lost Spring finds Saheb’s scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps every morning.
6. What does Saheb look for in the garbage dumps? (AHSEC 2016)
Answer: Saheb scrounges the garbage dumps to find something that is valuable which the author refers to as ‘gold’.
7. Where has Saheb come from?
Answer: Saheb has come from Dhaka, Bangladesh. (AHSEC 2016)
8. What does ‘garbage’ mean for the elders of Seemapuri? (AHSEC 2017)
Answer: For the elder’s ‘garbage’ is a means of survival.
9. Where does Mukesh live? (AHSEC 2017)
Answer: Mukesh lives in Firozabad. His house is in one of the foul-smelling towns with garbage strewn all around.
10. Why have Saheb and his family migrated to Seemapuri? (AHSEC 2018)
Answer: The storm had swept away Saheb’s home and green fields in Dhaka. Hence, he and his family had migrated to Seemapuri.
11. What is the original book from which this prose piece is an excerpt?
Answer: The prose piece is an excerpt from the book ‘Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood’.
12. Who is Saheb?
Answer: Saheb is a young ragpicker, who scrounges the garbage dumps on the streets of Delhi for his living. He was originally from Dhaka.
13. Whom does the author encounter every day in the street
Answer: Every day, the author encounters a young ragpicker, Saheb in the street.
14. What does Saheb do every day?
Answer: Every day, Saheb scrounges the garbage dumps on the streets of Delhi in order to find something valuable.
15. What is Saheb’s full name?
Answer: Saheb’s full name is Saheb-e-Alam, which means ‘lord of the universe’.
16. What is the meaning of Saheb’s full name?
Answer: The meaning of Saheb-e-Alam is ‘lord of the universe’.
17. Whom does Saheb observe standing at the fenced gate of the neighbourhood club?
Answer: Saheb stands at the fenced gate of the neighbourhood club and observes two young men, dressed in white clothes, playing tennis.
18. What is Saheb wearing?
Answer: Saheb is wearing a discoloured shirt and shorts and also a pair of tennis shoes with a hole in one of them.
19. Where is Seemapuri?
Answer: Seemapuri is a place on the periphery of Delhi.
20. How much does Saheb earn from his new job in the Tea stall?
Answer: Saheb earns Rs 800, along with all his meals from his new job at the tea stall.
21. Who is Savita? [AHSEC 2024]
Answer: Savita is a young girl who does the work of soldering pieces of glass. She wears a drab pink dress.
Short Answer Questions - 2 Marks
1. Is Saheb happy working in the tea stall? Why? (AHSEC 2012, 2014)
Answer: No, Saheb is not happy working at the tea stall) The plastic bags he used to carry were lighter than the steel canister he carries now. Earlier he was his own master and now he a mere was servant as the tea stall and steel canister all belonged to his master.
2. What is the significance of bangles in an Indian society? (AHSEC 2012, 2017)
Answer: In an Indian society, the bangle is symbolic of a married Indian woman’s ‘suhaag’ (auspiciousness in marriage. An Indian bride invariably wears red bangles on their wrists
3.’Garbage to them is gold. Why does the author say so about the rag pickers? or 'Garbage to them is gold'. How do ragpickers of Seemapuri survive? (AHSEC/ASSEB: 2013,2025)
Answer: Garbage is gold to the ragpickers of Seemapuri because s it provides them with items that can be sold for cash, which can buy them food, and is a means of survival. Moreover, it is gold also because the ragpickers can find stray coins and currency notes in it.
4. What is the irony inherent in Saheb’s full name? or describe the irony in Saheb's name. (AHSEC/ASSEB: 2013, 2016,2025)
Answer: Saheb’s full name, Saheb-e-Alam, suggests that he is the lord of the Universe. But in reality, he is merely a poor rag picker who lives in Seemapuri and does a great deal of rag picking on daily basis for his survival.
5. What does Saheb look for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he come from? (AHSEC 2014)
Answer: Saheb looks for gold in the garbage dumps. Saheb looks for some bits of wonderful findings like currency note in the garbage dumps.
6.Is Saheb happy working in the tea stall? Why? (AHSEC: 2014)
Answer: No, Saheb is not happy working at the tea-stall. The plastic bags he used to carry were lighter than the steel canister he carries now. Earlier he was his own master and now a mere servant as the tea-stall and steel canister all belonged to his master.
7. What explanation does the author of ‘Lost Spring’ offer for the children not wearing footwear? (AHSEC 2015)
Answer: One explanation offered by the author is that it is a tradition to stay barefoot. It is not lack of money. He wonders if this is only an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty. He also remembers the story of a poor body who prayed to the goddess for a pair of shoes. bog
8. What is Firozabad famous for and why? (AHSEC 2015)
Or, What makes the city of Firozabad famous? (ASSEB: 2025)
Answer: Firozabad is famous for bangles and bangle making. All kinds of bangle in all the colours remain available there round the clock. Each and every family of Firozabad is engaged in the business of bangle making. All these things make Firozabad very famous.
9. Why do the young inhabitants of Firozabad end up losing their eye-sight? aheng (AHSEC 2016)
Answer: In every house, in every street of Firozabad bangles are being made. In dark hutments boys and girls sit with their fathers and mothers welding pieces of coloured glass into circles of bangles. Their eyes become more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. That is why they often end up losing their eyesight even before they become adults.
10. What are the two different worlds in Firozabad? (AHSEC 2018)
Answer: The narrator finds two distinct worlds in Firozabad. The first one is of the families of the bangle-makers caught in perpetual web of poverty. The other is the vicious circle of the ‘Sahukars’ the middlemen, the policemen and the politicians who ensure the perpetual exploitation of these bangle makers.
11. What was the promise made by Anees Jung to Saheb? (AHSEC 2018)
Answer: The writer, Anees Jung, promised Saheb to open her own school and let Saheb study in it but she could not keep it as it is not easy to open a school in a day or two. She makes a hollow promise to boy which makes her feel embarrassed time and again.
12. What is Saheb’s explanation as to why he scrounged for gold in the heaps of garbage dumps?
Answer: When Saheb was asked as to why he scrounged for gold in the heap of garbage dumps, he replied that he did the work because he had nothing else to do. He didn’t go to school as there was none in his neighbourhood.
13. What is the author’s reply to Saheb’s explanation?
Answer: When Saheb explained that he had no other work to do except for scrounging gold in the heap of garbage dumps, the author asked him why he had not gone to any school.
14. Why does the advice sound hollow?
Answer: When Saheb said that he had no other work to do except for scrounging gold in the heaps of slumps, the author advised him to go to school. This advice sounded quit hollow because there was no school in the neighbourhood of Saheb. Moreover, Saheb’s economic condition was not that strong that his family could efford him to send to a school.
15. Why is the author embarrassed?
Answer: When the author advised Saheb, a ragpicker to go to school, the latter replied that there was none in their neighborhood. The author then half-jokingly asked Saheb to join the school which she would start. After that, one day Saheb eagerly asked the author if her school was ready. This made the author embarrassed for making promise that she did not mean.
16.Write a short note on the significance of the title, ‘Lost Spring’. [AHSEC 2024]
Answer: The title ‘Lost Spring’ holds significance as it reflects the plight of migrant children who work in glass-blowing factories in Firozabad, India. Their childhood is lost due to poverty and exploitation.
17. How does Saheb’s life change when he starts working at the tea-stall? [AHSEC 2024]
Answer: When Saheb starts working at the tea-stall, his life undergoes significant changes. Saheb gains financial stability with a regular income of 800 rupees. His meals are provided, addressing the issue of food scarcity. However, the once carefree expression on his face fades. Carrying the steel canister feels burdensome, and the weight of responsibility weighs heavily on him. Saheb is no longer the master of his own time; he may have to work longer hours, and the helplessness of not acting according to his own will saddens him.
Long Answer Questions -5 Marks
1. Describe the miserable plight of the people of Firozabad. (AHSEC 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017)
Answer: Firozabad is the centre of India’s glass blowing industry where families have spent generations working around the furnace. They work in small cells without air and light. Children slog their daylight hours round these furnaces instead of going to school. They often lose eyesight due to this, before they become adults. They live around stinking lanes choked with garbages, in homes having crumbling walls, crowded with families of humans and animals coexisting together. Spirals of bangles, of different colours, lie in mounds, piled in four-wheeled carts. Beside the flickering oil lamps, sit boys and girls welding pieces of bangles. Inspite of this lifelong hard work, they are trapped in poverty and the burden of this impoverished life is imposed on them generation after generation.
2. Describe the bangle makers of Firozabad. How does the vicious circle of the Sahukars, the middlemen never allow them to come out of their poverty? (AHSEC 2018)
Answer: The bangle makers of Firozabad have spent generations working around furnaces. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. They sit around lamps welding glass, making bangles for all the women in the land.
These families are caught in the web of poverty. These families, ensnared in the cycle of poverty, carry the weight of caste-based discrimination. Their belief in their predetermined caste assigns bangle making as their ancestral occupation, seemingly immutable. Fearful of police intervention, they are unable to unite into cooperatives. Individual bangle makers are always caught in the vicious circle of the middlemen and the sahukars. This vicious circle exploits them so much that they are left with so less money that they have only enough to engage in bangle making. They cannot afford to have two meals a day. Thus, they live in abject poverty.
3. Who was Saheb and what was ironical about his name? Describe Saheb’s life and the life of the barefoot army of ragpickers in Seemapuri.
Answer: Saheb is a rag picker from Seemapuri. The irony that lies in his name is that, he is deprived of every pleasure in life but his name ‘Saheb-e-Alam’ means lord of the universe. Saheb and the army of rag pickers appear like the morning birds and disappear at noon. They move about in the city roads collecting rags barefooted. Their families are squatters who come from Bangladesh. They stay in structures of mud with roof of tin and tarpaulin. Without any proper sewage, drainage or drinking water, these families live in hellish conditions. They live without any identity, without any permits but with ration cards that get their names on voters’ list and enables them to buy grains. They believed that it was better to live in such conditions with two meals than to live in their own land without food.
4. Give a brief account of life and activities of the people like Saheb-e-Alam settled in Seemapuri.
Answer: The author’s acquaintance with Saheb and other barefoot ragpickers introduced her to Seemapuri. It is a slum area located on the periphery of Delhi. The residents of Secmapuri consist of people who left Bangladesh in the 1971 War and are basically refugees. Saheb’s family is among them. The area does not have facilities of sewage, drainage or running water. About 10000 ragpickers live here. Their only means of livelihood is ragpicking, and they treat rags as valuable as gold. These ragpickers have lived here for more than thirty years without any identity. They do not have permits but have ration cards, with which they can get their names on the voter’s list and also buy grains at subsidised rates.
5. ‘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?
Answer: ‘Lost Spring’ is a good narration of grinding poverty and traditions to which thousands of people have succumbed. The story revolves around the pitiable condition of poor children who have been forced to live in slums and work hard in dirty conditions. The story is divided into two parts. The first part tells the writer’s impression about the life of poor ragpickers who have migrated froin Bangladesh, but now have settled in the Seemapuri area of Delhi.
The second part narrates the miserable life of the bangle makers in the town of Firozabad. The stark reality of these families is that in spite of back-breaking hard work that they put in, they cannot have two square meals a day. Besides, they are victims of exploitation by those above them and also suffer the consequences of blind belief in traditions.
6. Describe the condition of Seema Puri. [AHSEC 2024]
Answer: Seema Puri, situated on the outskirts of Delhi, is a place of squalor and destitution. Originally settled by squatters from Bangladesh in 1971, it remains a wilderness devoid of basic amenities. Housing consists of makeshift structures made of mud, tin, and tarpaulin, lacking sewage, drainage, or running water. Despite living there for over three decades, residents lack formal identity or permits. However, they possess ration cards for essential provisions. Survival is prioritised over identity, as indicated by their endurance despite the harsh living conditions. Garbage collection and scavenging have become indispensable for sustenance, with children often joining their parents in this endeavour.
7. Explain the phrase, “Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles from it, metaphorically.”
Answer: Seemapuri is a place on the outskirts of Delhi, yet miles from it metaphorically. This means that though Seemapuri is near the capital of the country, which is a developed place, Seemapuri lacks all development and sanitation. Its proximity to Delhi has done nothing to improve the quality of life for its residents who live in mud structures with roofs of tin and tarpaulin. There are no facilities for running water, sewage or drainage available. The people are involved in rag picking, which is a source of livelihood for them. Their children do not go to school. They walk barefoot and scrounge garbage dumps for survival.
8. Why have the people of Firozabad lost their initiative and ability to dream?
Answer: The people of Firozabad are traditionally involved in the business of bangle making. They have lost their initiative and ability to dream. Years of mind-numbing toil has killed 'all initiative and the ability to dream' in Firozabad. The children continue to do what their parents did. With time nothing has changed, and the situation remains the same without any improvement in the lives of the bangle makers. They do not have money for anything apart from carrying on their business of bangle making. There is not enough food to eat at home. There are lots of wants and needs of the families that remain unfulfilled.
9. What hinders the young men from organising themselves into a cooperative?
Answer: The author asks the young men about why they could not organise themselves into a cooperative. The young men are in the vicious grip of the middlemen who trapped their fathers and forefathers before them. The middlemen and sahukars see to it that the bangle makers are not able to rise above the burden of caste and the web of poverty. They could not organise themselves into a cooperative as they would be beaten up by the police and dragged to jail if they tried to do so. There was no leader among them who could help them see things differently. Their fathers are as tired as they are. They talk about poverty and injustice but are not able to do anything to combat the situation.
10. “Food is more important for survival than an identity for the rag pickers”, says Anees Jung. Elucidate.
Answer: The rag pickers are migrants from Bangladesh who came to stay in Seemapuri in 1971. They left their homes and fields and moved to India in the hope of a better future. They prefer to live there as at the end of the day, they are able to feed themselves, whereas, in their homeland, they had no grain and were starving. Rag picking has become a means of survival for the people in Seemapuri and the children also join them in this activity which sustains them and meets their needs. They do not have an identity and permits, but they have been issued ration cards. This enables them to buy grain and ward off starvation. Having an identity in their own country did not feed them, and that is why the author says that food is more important for survival than an identity for the rag pickers.
11. Show how for children like Saheb owning “even shoes with a hole is a dream come true”.
Answer: Saheb doesn't wear footwear because he comes from a very poor family. His parents do not have enough money to buy him a pair of chappals. Life is a battle of survival for him and his family. The rag pickers do not have enough money to spend on buying things like shoes for their children. Sahib is seen by the author, wearing a pair of tennis shoes. He says they were given to him by someone. One of the shoes has a hole in them and must have been discarded by a boy whose parents were rich enough to buy him another pair of shoes. He is pleased to get the shoes and is not bothered by the hole in one of them. For someone who has always been barefoot, it is a dream come true to have shoes even with a hole.
12. "Little has moved with time in Firozabad. ", says Anees Jung. What makes her comment thus?
Answer: Anees Jung comments that "little has moved with time in Firozabad". The exploitation of the bangle makers continues unchecked. The deadly nexus of sahukars, middlemen, law-keepers, policemen and politicians have the poor bangle makers in their vicious grip. With time nothing has changed, and the situation remains the same without any improvement in the lives of the bangle makers. They do not have money for anything apart from carrying on their business of bangle making. There is not enough food to eat at home. There are lots of wants and needs of the families that remain unfulfilled. The bangle makers are not able to rise above the burden of caste and the web of poverty.
13. “I wonder if this is only an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty.” Explain.
Answer: In her travels across the country, the author Anees Jung has come across children walking barefoot both in rural areas and in cities as well. One explanation given, when she questions about it is that it is a tradition to remain barefoot. She is not convinced by this explanation. She feels that it is simply an excuse to hide a perpetual state of poverty. At times people will not like to confess that they are poor and do not have the required money to buy chappals or shoes for their children. It becomes more convenient to blame it on tradition instead. The people continue to remain poor and are not able to meet all their needs and requirements.
14. How does Jung bring out the naivety of the young girl Savita?
Answer: Savita is a young girl from Firozabad. She is dressed in a dull, pink dress. She is busy soldering pieces of glass to form circles of bangles. She goes about her work mechanically, and her hands move like the tongs of a machine. The author wonders at her innocence, whether she knows the sanctity of the bangles she helps to make. Bangles are an integral part of a married woman's life, right from the time she becomes a bride. Savita will realise this as she becomes a bride one day and has red bangles rolled on her wrists.
15. “They talk endlessly in a spiral.” Explain.
Answer: They talk endlessly in a spiral that moves from poverty to apathy to greed and injustice. 'They' here refers to the young men from Firozabad who have fallen into the same vicious trap that their fathers and forefathers have fallen into. The middlemen and sahukars see to it that the bangle makers are not able to rise above the burden of caste and the web of poverty. They could not organise themselves into a cooperative as they would be beaten up by the police and dragged to jail if they tried to do so. There was no leader among them who could help them see things differently. Their fathers are as tired as they are. They talk about poverty and injustice but are not able to do anything to combat the situation.
16. “Few aeroplanes fly over Firozabad.” What is the significance of the quoted line so far as Mukesh and his dream is concerned?
Answer: This line means that usually, planes do not fly over Firozabad. Mukesh has not seen a plane fly and does not harbour dreams of flying planes. Mukesh dreams of driving a car and wants to be a motor mechanic. He is content(happy) to dream of driving a car since he has seen cars going by on the roads in Firozabad. He is realistic because he longs to do something that he has seen and which will make him happy. He is determined to get the required training to fulfil his dream of being a motor mechanic. He is also courageous enough to look beyond the occupation of bangle making and dream of doing something different.
17. Who is Saheb, and what is ironical about his name? Describe Saheb's life and the life of the barefoot army of rag pickers at Seemapuri.
Answer: Saheb is a rag picker from Seemapuri. His family originally came from Dhaka in Bangladesh. Saheb's full name is Saheb-e Alam. It means lord of the universe. He is not aware of the meaning of his name and would have found it difficult to believe it. The irony is that he is lord of the universe in name only. He is a poor migrant and scrounges through garbage dumps every day for his basic survival needs.
Saheb and the army of barefoot rag pickers are called morning birds by the author. They appear in the morning and disappear by afternoon. They roam the streets scrounging the garbage dumps for gold. Gold stands for something useful and valuable to them. Garbage is something like a wonder for them. At times they find a rupee or even ten rupees and are very gleeful about it. Despite poverty and adverse circumstances, they continue to remain hopeful and are joyous with carefree expressions on their face.
18. Describe the bangle makers of Firozabad. How does the vicious circle of the sahukars, the middlemen, never allow them to come out of their poverty? (AHSEC 2018)
Answer: The bangle makers of Firozabad are oppressed by many people. They are exploited by sahukars and middlemen in the name of caste. They do not have enough money to meet any of their needs. The money only permits them to carry on their business of bangle making. In most of the homes, there is not enough food to eat. An elderly woman lamented that she had not enjoyed even one full meal in her entire life. This is a cry echoed by most of the bangle makers and their families. The young men are in the vicious grip of the middlemen who trapped their fathers and forefathers before them. The middlemen and sahukars see to it that the bangle makers are not able to rise above the burden of caste and the web of poverty. The bangle makers could not organise themselves into a cooperative as they would be beaten up by the police and dragged to jail if they tried to do so. The police would haul them to jail, saying that they were doing an illegal activity. There was no leader among them who could help them see things differently. They talk about poverty and injustice but are not able to do anything to combat the situation.
19. What are the two different worlds that Anees Jung sees in Firozabad?
Answer: There are two distinct worlds that Anees Jung sees in Firozabad, one of the poor bangle makers and the other of the sahukars and the middlemen. The bangle makers are burdened by poverty and the stigma of the caste, they have been born into. They are exploited by the nexus of sahukars, middlemen, policemen and politicians, who oppress them at every given opportunity and refuse to allow them to rise. The deadly nexus of sahukars, middlemen, law-keepers, policemen and politicians have the poor bangle makers in their vicious grip. With time nothing has changed, and the situation remains the same without any improvement in the lives of the bangle makers. They do not have money for anything apart from carrying on their business of bangle making. There is not enough food to eat at home. There are lots of wants and needs of the families that remain unfulfilled. The bangle makers are not able to rise above the burden of caste and the web of poverty.
20. How is Mukesh different from the other children of Firozabad? Why is the author cheered when she looks into his eyes?
Answer: Mukesh is different from the other children at Firozabad. He dreams of driving a car and wants to be a motor mechanic when he grows up. Bangle making is a traditional occupation followed at Firozabad. He wants to be his own master and is determined to work towards it. The other children normally follow in the footsteps of their fathers and do not aspire to do something different. The vicious middlemen are able to successfully bind the children to a life of bondage, the way they have done with their fathers and grandfathers. The children do not dare to dream, and they also lack the courage of wanting to do something different.
The author finds a refreshing change when she looks at Mukesh. She is happy to see that he has the ability and will to dream of a life beyond bangle making. She is cheerful when he expresses the desire to be a motor mechanic.
21. In what context does the author recount the story of Udupi?
Answer: The author recollects a story narrated to her by a man from Udipi. His father was a priest in the temple. On his way to school, he used to pass by the temple, stop briefly and pray for a pair of shoes. When he got the much desired for shoes, he prayed that he would never lose them. After thirty years, when the author visits the place, she finds a new priest at the temple and his son wearing a pair of shoes.
It is in the context of shoes that the author recounts the story of Udipi. The rag pickers in her neighbourhood continue to remain barefoot. There is no improvement in their life or circumstance. Basic necessities still elude them.
22. Write briefly on the hazard of working in the glass bangle industry. (AHSEC 2020)
Answer: Firozabad is famous for its glass bangle industry. Most of the families there are involved in bangle making. Young boys and girls sit with their parents and works in dark huts, by the flickering light of oil lamps welding pieces of coloured glass into circles of bangles. Their eyes become more used to the dark than to the light outside. Due to this reason, children often lose their eye-sight before they become adults. Working in the glass bangle industry is hazardous for both young children and adults. However, they continue to do so as they are oppressed by the nexus of sahukars and middlemen, who are supported by powerful people in the exploitation of the poor bangle makers. They work in small dark rooms without air and light. They are affected by the high temperature of the furnace. The dust from the bangles harms their eyes. All these conditions are put significant risk to their health.
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