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Mr. Jobin Devasia

Dept. of English, ISWK

LOST SPRING: STORIES OF STOLEN CHILDHOOD

In the Lost Spring : Stories of Stolen Childhood, Anees jung exposes a national shame-children
cleaning floors and tables in shanty restaurants; making locks, slates and fireworks; Rolling bidis ;
weaving saris and carpets: packing and hauling loads in factories and stone quarries. With her
trademark sensitivity and insight, she analyses the grinding poverty and tradition sanctified by caste
and religion which condemn these children to a life of exploitation.
'Lost spring' is fascinating and revelatory description of the lives of poverty stricken children in India.
It escapes from being a dry report about child labour because of its evaluative language. It in about
children coming to cities to work as rag pickers or cleaners/servers at tea stall; or helping at furnaces
where they are exposed to health hazards.
Notes
Author's encounter with Saheb
Meets rag picker Saheb belonging to a refuge family from Bangladesh.
Question him about his vocation of rag picking and advised him to 90 to school
Promise to open a school
Felt embarrassed at making a hollow promise
Irony in name and existence
Full Name 'Saheb-e-Alam' meaning 'lord of the universe
But deprived of even basic needs scrounge strut with other rag picker boys
Bare foot boys reflected extreme state of poverty
Passage of time and degree of prosperity achieved
Reminded of a priest bare foot son in town of Udipi thirty years ago.
Longing for a pair of shoes
Thirty year later a boy of same age was seen in full school dress with shoes
Rag pickers still shoe less.
Seemapuri on periphery of Delhi far away from it
Dwelling structures of mud. Tin and tarpulin with no sewage drainage or running water
Only boon valid ration card to get grain
Happy to live in an strange land which provides food grain than in their mother land
without grain
Rag picking for elders their daily bread and means of survival for children a treasure of
wonderful things
Saheb's longing for childhood
Wish to enjoy pleasures of childhood
Play tennis, wear shoes
Watches Rich boys playing Tennis
Saheb's New vocation
Work on Tea stall Earns Ids 800'pm
Appears burdened and forlorn
No freedom now
Tin container was heavier than his rag picking bag
I WANT TO DRIVE A CAR
Mukesh
A child labourer in a glass factory in Firozabad
Wishes to be motor mechanic
Wants to learn to drive a car
Family unaware that child labour is illegal
Working condition in glass furnaces
High temperature
Dingy cell
Poorly ventilated
Children lose eye sight at an early age
Living conditions in Firozabad
Houses with crumbling walls
Humans and animals both live together
Stinking lanes
Mukesh; house half built
For wood stove aluminum utensils
Elder brothers wife
In charge of family members
According to custom cover his face with veil
Mukeshs father
Head of the family
Poverty stricken unable to renovate house or provide education to sons
Only legacy he hand over is the art of bangle making
Mukesh Grandmother's view
Their present state result of Karma.
Accepted her husband's blindness caused by dust of glass bangles as their destiny.
Thinks art of bangle making god given lineage.
Vicious circle of poverty
No progress despite of years struggle Poverty, Illiteracy dissatisfaction Victims of middle
man and touts
Fear of police, lack of leadership check their growth
Irony
Bangle a symbol of Suhaag
Every girl child one day as bride will wear bangles.
become old with bangles in wrist no sight in eyes.
Children Double victim
First by birth bordered by stigma of caste second
No hope : have to accept family occupation
ruled by Shahukaars, Middle man, police
Little desire to dream snubbed in childhood.
Mukesh : as exception
Have dream to be motor mechanic
Practical does not have dream of aeroplanes.
Only few planes fly over Firozabad.

Mr. Jobin Devasia

Dept. of English, ISWK

Justification of Title
As a little lost spring has a tinge of irony. Spring is the best season of a year. Being full of color,
fragrance and freshness, it is also a season of renewal and growth. The childhood of human life is often
likened to spring, as it marks the beginning of human life and has a tremendous scope for growth. It is
full of joy, pleasure and play. Children anywhere in the world are a source of great joy. But, ironically,
millions of children like Saheb and Mukesh experience no spring in their lives, for their childhood is
consumed in making a living. Education, play and pleasure are not for them to enjoy. They must work
to support themselves and their families.
Thus the title brings out the depravity of child labor in a very telling way.
THE STORY AS A COMMENTARY ON THE POLITICAL SYSTEM
Lost Spring presents a heart rendering picture of the plight of poor children in Delhi and U P. The
entire Seemapuri is a colony of rag pickers. For over three decades these Bangladeshi displaced persons
have failed to find an alternative means of survival. They try to find gold in filth. Who is responsible
for allowing these migrants to come to Delhi and rot in sub-human conditions? Of course, the
politicians and the police and the corrupt officials need to be hanged for their apathy to the suffering
lot of and army of rag picking children.
The condition of the poor in Firozabad is not much different. They work in inhuman conditions. They
are exploited by the middlemen and the police. They have no leader, no cooperative society. The whole
political system is rotten. The population boom will worsen the quality of life further. The situation is
hopeless.
(Q1.) Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry?
(Ans) The glass bangle industry of Firozabad employs children and they work in very unhealthy and
hazardous conditions. They are made to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy
cells without air and light. Almost twenty thousand children work in the hot furnaces, often losing the
brightness of their eyes. Many workers become blind while polishing the glass bangles. Many children
lose their eyesight before they become adults.
(Q2.) Explain For children, garbage has a meaning different from what it means to their parents.
(Ans) The small rag pickers scrounge heaps of garbage for some coin, note or valuable things.
Sometimes they do find a rupee or even a ten rupee note. Then they hope to find more. They search
excitedly. For children, garbage is wrapped in wonder. For the grown-ups it is a means of survival.
Hence garbage has two different meanings.
(Q3.) What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?
(Ans) The people migrate from villages to cities because of natural disasters and resulting poverty. A
rag picker recollects many storms that have swept away his fields and home in Dhaka. That is why
they left, looking for gold in the big city where he now lives.
(Q4.) 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) I agree that promises made to poor children are rarely kept. It is easy to say to poor children that
they should be in school but will we ever be in a position to start a school. As an individual, it is
difficult to provide facilities and assistance that can remove poverty.
(Q.5) What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he come from?
(Ans) Saheb lives near the garbage dumps in Seemapuri on the outskirts of Delhi. His family came
from Bangladesh. Survival in Seemapuri means rag picking. Garbage to them is gold. Saheb looks for
coins in the heaps of garbage. He even finds a ten rupee note sometimes. When one can find a silver
coin in a heap of Garbage, one cant stop scrounging for there is hope of finding more.
(Q6.) What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing foot wear?
(Ans) Travelling across the country the author has observed children walking barefoot in cities and on
village roads. It is not lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot is one explanation. The author
wonders if this is only an excuse to explain a constant state of poverty.
(Q7.) Is Saheb happy working at the Tea Stall? Explain.
(Ans) Saheb gets a job at a small tea stall. He is paid Rs 800along with all his meals. There seems to be
some improvement in his condition but his face loses the carefree look. The steel canister that he carries
belongs to the owner of the shop. It seems heavier than the plastic bag he used to carry as a rag picker.
Saheb is no longer his own master.
(Q8.) What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
(Ans)Firozabad is famous for bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. It
is the centre of Indias glass blowing industry where families have spent generations working around
furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for women all over India.
(Q9.) How is Mukeshs attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
(Ans) Mukesh insists on being his own master. He has seen the poverty, the dangers and the subhuman living conditions of the glass bangle industry. He wants to be a motor mechanic. His hope,
resourcefulness and determination to break free are admirable his dream looms like a mirage, amidst
the dust of streets. His thinking with a positive attitude is so different from his family which is
struggling to survive the burden of the lineage. He wants to rebuild his destiny and do not want to
become a glass bangle maker.
(Q9.) What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?
(Ans)The workers in the bangle industry have remained in poverty and years of mind numbing labour
has destroyed their initiative and ability to dream. They cannot organize themselves into a cooperative
as they are fallen in a vicious circle of middlemen who trapped their fathers and forefathers. The police
beat them up if they get organized, there is no leader who can take up their cause. The author identifies
the forces that conspire against them. They are the stigma of caste, a destructive cycle of the Sahukars,
the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians.
(Q10.) How does the author focus on the perpetual state of poverty of the children not wearing
footwear?
(Ans) Most of the young rag pickers do not wear footwear. The author noticed this. Some of them were
even without chappals. Some wanted to wear shoes though some say that it is tradition to stay
barefoot. The author attributes it to scarcity of money. It is poverty that does not allow them to possess
footwear.

Mr. Jobin Devasia

Dept. of English, ISWK

(Q11.) Who is Mukesh? What is his dream? Why does it look like a mirage amidst the dust?
(Ans)Mukesh is the son of a poor bangle maker of Firozabad, where every other family is engaged in
making bangles. His poor father has been unable to renovate the house or educate his sons. Mukesh
wants to be his own master and dreams to become a motor mechanic. He wants to drive a car. But the
conditions under which he exists, this dream is like an illusion, a mirage.
(Q12.) What contrast do you notice between the colours of the bangles and the atmosphere of the place
where these bangles are made?
(Ans) The bangles made in Firozabad are of every hue (colour) born out of the rainbow. They are
sunny, gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink and purple. While the boys and girls work in dark dingy
huts next to the flames of oil lamps around the high heat of the furnaces, blowing glass, welding and
soldering it to make bangles.
(Q.13) The bangle makers are ignorant of something. What is it? What would happen if law were
enforced strictly?
(Ans) The bangle-makers are unaware of the fact that child labour is illegal and has been banned by
law. The industry is hazardous to their health. Many children become blind before reaching their
adulthood. If the law were enforced strictly, 20000 children would be released from working hard
throughout the day at hot furnaces with high temperatures.
(Q14.) Savita is a symbol of innocence and efficiency. Comment.
(Ans) Savita is a young girl. She is wearing a drab pink dress. She is soldering pieces of glass. Her
hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine. She is innocent and does not understand the
sanctity of the bangles that she is making. She is very efficient in her work.
(Q15.) Why cant the bangle makers not organize themselves into a cooperative?
(Ans) Most of the young bangle makers are subjected to exploitation at the hands of the middle men.
They are frightened of the police who usually haul them up, beat them and drag them to jail for doing
illegal things. There is no leader to help them out. Their fathers too are old and helpless. Hence, the
idea of organizing themselves into a cooperative becomes too far-fetched.
(Q16.) The beauty of the glass bangles of Firozabad contrasts with the misery of people who produce
them. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangle industry. Discuss the endless spiral of
poverty, apathy, greed and injustice present there.
(Ans) The lesson Lost Spring describes the apathy of the bangle-makers on two planes. Firstly, it is
the plight of the street children forced into labour early in life and denied the opportunity of studying
in schools. Secondly, the glass industry has its own hazards. The illegal employment of very young
children and the pathetic working conditions. Over and above, it is the apathy and callousness of
society and the political class to the sufferings of the poor that makes us feel sympathetic towards these
bangle makers. They work in glass furnaces with high temperatures. Their dingy cells have no light, no
ventilation. Boys and girls work under these conditions while welding pieces of coloured glass to make
bangles. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. They often lose their
eyesight at a young age.The other reason that the poverty stricken bangle makers suffer is because of
the exploitation at the hands of the middle men and politicians. They do not work to bring an
improvement in their conditions, instead they get brutally beaten up by the police. They are unable to
organize themselves. Hence, their life is full of sufferings both physical and emotional.

VALUE BASED QUESTIONS

Q1. Everyone wishes to live a lavish life in a big city. Big cities provide big dreams kin ones eyes.
These attract everything especially from villages or small towns.
After reading the text LOST SPRING you must have been to point out the possible reasons behind
migration from a place to other. Write a paragraph in about 100 words for a social magazine
highlighting the issue The reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities.
Ans: Due to urbanization, education, employment, safety and other basic amenities more and more
people are migrating from villages to the cities. In the lesson at hand, people have fled from
Bangladesh because their fields and houses were swept away by the storm. There they could not get
even enough food to fill their belly. The settlement of Seemapuri is a fine example of this kind. In
addition to this one can see that the pressure on the land has increased due to population and
mechanized farming. So the requirement of labour is very acute. Consequently, people flee towards the
cities for work. In earlier days means of education and transportation, etc. were very few. Only a few
could get education. Agriculture was their main profession. With extensive and renovated education,
the youth run from post to pillar in search of job. They do not want to stay in unhealthy and
unhygienic rural surroundings.
Not to speak of this, all sorts of village crafts have been replaced with the machines. The market is full
of competition, quality and cheap goods. The villagers fail to compete with the new system of heavy
industrialization. So the people migrate from villages to cities to attain a city-like presence for
themselves.
Q2. You have been stunned with the condition of children in the country. The government, on one
hand, feels proud to enact the anti-child labour act. While on the other hand, the childhood is being
ruined under the net/trap of child labour. Write your views on Elimination of Child Labour in about
100 words.

Rag pickers in
Seemapuri

Factory-workers at
bangle-industry of
Firozabad

Child beggars at
crossings, redlights etc.

Mr. Jobin Devasia

Dept. of English, ISWK

Ans.
Elimination of Child Labour
The child labour employed in a nay form of the hazardous work is an offence. It is banned under law.
Yet it goes on unabated, the industrial towns like Firozabad, Shivakasi, Mirzapur and so on.
The child labour is hazardous in nature. It inflicts physical and mental harm to the boys. The work in
the glass bangle industry often ends up them losing their eyesight before they become adults. The
mind-numbing toil is bangle-making kills all their initiative, drive and ability to dream in life. They are
even deprived of the school education and proper growth.
According to Anees Jung about 20,000 children are working in the glass bangle industry of Firozabad.
Some of the industrialists conspire in unison with the Sahukars, the middlemen, the policeman and the
politicians and then go on stealing their childhood for some extra coins. The only possible solution lies
with the government and the society to punish the wrong-doers very strictly; and keep a careful watch
and vigil over them.
Q3. Indiscriminate migration to big cities has resulted into the growth of slums like mushrooms.
Moreover, people are seen living in inhuman conditions here. You may take reference from the test
The Lost Spring about two poor boys Saheb and Mukesh. Write a paragraph kin 100 words about this
problem suggesting steps to deal with it.
Ans.

Growth of Slums

The threat of population explosion has become the greatest menace for India. Every four seconds a new
baby is born in India. If the present trend continues, we can visualize its serious consequences. There is
not an inch of vacant space in all the towns and cities of India. The price of land has become sky-high.
A person belonging to middle income group cannot even dream to buy a small piece of land in some
hygienic place. Therefore, slums have sprung up around all the towns and cities. Slums are dirty
dwellings. They are no better than hell. The people live in dark and dingy dwellings. Their small
houses lack air, light and sanitation. There is a shortage of fresh drinking water and electricity. They
remain ill fed, ill clad and ill sheltered. They earn their dry bread through corrupt, criminal and vulgar
activities. Their filthy surroundings cause them to fall victims of fatal diseases. They dell drugs and
intoxicants,. Drinking and gambling are their favorite pastimes.
Q4. In this case the elder, is an impoverished bangle-maker. Despite long years of hard labour, first as
a tailor, then a bangle-maker, he has failed to renovate a house, end his two sons to school. All he has
managed to do is teach them what he knows: the art of making bangles.
These lines show the apathy prevailing in some strata of society. These groups have been known by
their profession. Their profession is their caste. Is it fine to force someone to be a p art of his ancestral
profession? Or some specific reasons or thoughts are responsible for it. Write an article to be published
in your school magazine on the issue- Profession cannot be termed as legacy. Sign yourself as
Amrita/Amrit. (100 words)
Ans.

Profession v/s Legacy

Indian society has many facets. There is caste system prevalent, as one of the major evils in the
society. Not only has this, in some parts of the country, the profession of some people turned out to be
their caste. They are indulged in the same profession from generation to generation. They treat it like
the God-given lineage that is unbreakable. Some as in the case of bangle-makers at Firozabad, new
generation is said to believe to have born in the caste bangle makers. This ancestral profession, despite
many health-hazards, runs in their blood. To do anything else would mean to dare. The youngsters
have to treat it like their Karam or destiny. They lived a life of sacked employees. Profession has
imposed as a legacy on them. Whether it brings full facilities to live or not, nothing else can be tried
even. This is unfair and not done. Now the younger generation has the spark to do anything else. A
doctors son should not necessarily be a doctor. One can opt for profession according to ones choice.
This is the only way to break the vicious circle of the abject poverty.
Q5. None of them know that it is illegal for children like him to work in glass furnaces with high
temperatures in dingy cell without air and light ..?
These words from Lost Spring through light on the grinding poverty that forces many children in
India to lead a life of exploitation whereby they have to slog in sub-human conditions.
Driven by a concern for such children who lose their childhood and who go through an unjust,
treatment, write an article in about 100 words on Child Labour in India.
ANS: Child labour in any form, if both legal and social offence. It is banned under law in India yet,
more than 10 million children are employed in hazardous and dangerous trades and industries. At
their tender age, they are made to work 10 to 15 hours a day instead of them studying and playing.
These children are made to work in sub-human condition and are often exploited. They are underpaid,
ill-fed and even beaten at the slightest fault. One is moved with pity to see their grim and famished
faces. For example, in Mirzapur carpet industry, thousands of children are engaged in carpet weaving.
In dark hutments, sit boys and girls, weaving carpets. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to
the light. They work at the risk of even losing their eye sight. Strict measures need to be adopted to
execute the constitutional ban on child labour in both letter and spirit if we dont want the future of
India to be doomed. It is the birth right to every child to live his/her childhood. We cant allow this
beautiful stage to simply pass by the little faces, leaving them shrinking away..