NCERT Solutions For Class 12 Flamingo English Lost Spring
Questions from the Textbook Solved
THINK AS YOU READ
Ques 1. What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he come from?
Ans. Saheb is looking for coins, rupee note or something useful in the garbage dumps. He is in the neighborhood of the author. Saheb has come from Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1971 with his mother. His house was set among the green fields of Dhaka. Storms swept away their fields and homes. So they left the country.
Ques 2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?
Ans: One explanation offered by the author is that it is not a lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot. He wonders if this is only an excuse to explain away a endless state of poverty.
Ques 3. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain.
Ans. No, he is not happy working at the tea-stalll. Saheb get paid 800 rupees and all his meals but he lost his freedom. He is no longer his own master. He lost the carefree look on his face. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag that he would carry very lightly on his shoulder. The bag was his own and the canister belongs to the man who owns the tea shop.
THINK AS YOU READ
Ques 1. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
Ans. The city is famous for its bangles. Almost every family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. It is the center of India’s glass-blowing industry where families have spent generations working around furnaces and welding glass into colourful bangles.
Ques2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry?
Ans. Working in the glass bangles industry is a real threat to health. The workers including children work in dark and dirty cells without air and light and in high temperatures. Their eyes become more adjusted to the dark than to the bright light outside. As a result, they lose their eyesight. Also, the dust from polishing the glass is harmful to the eyes and can cause blindness.
Ques3. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
Ans. Mukesh’s grandmother thinks that it is their karam and the god-given lineage can never be broken. Being born in the caste of bangle makers, they have seen only bangles everywhere.
Mukesh’s father has taught him the only he knew- the art of making bangles. But Mukesh does not want to accept his fate. He wants to be a motor mechanic and wants to learn to drive a car.
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
Ques1. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?
Ans. There are various reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities. The main reason for the migration is poverty which is due to unemployment. Many villagers migrate to cities in search of livelihood. Some people migrate when natural calamities destroy their homes and properties. There are very few opportunities for employment in the village. Cities provide them employment.
In this chapter, Saheb and his family migrated from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Seemapuri after storms destroyed their houses.
Ques 2. Would you agree that promises made to poor children are rarely kept? Why do you think this happens in the incidents narrated in the chapter?
Ans. Yes, the promises made to the poor children are hardly kept.
Once, while interacting with Saheb, the author jokingly talks about opening a school herself. She has unknowingly sown a seed of hope in Saheb's heart. After a few days, When Saheb approaches her and asks if the school is ready. The author feels embarrassed at having made a hollow promise that was not meant.
Ques 3. What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?
Ans. There are many forces that conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty. These include middlemen, bureaucrats, politicians, policemen and sahukars. They have fallen into the vicious clutches of these forces.
TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT
Q1. How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realize his dream?
Ans. Mukesh is the son of a poor bangle-maker of Firozabad. Most of the young men of Firozabad have no initiative or ability to dream, but Mukesh is an exception. He has the capacity to take courage and break from the traditional family occupation. He has strong willpower also. He does not want to be a pawn in the hands of the middlemen or moneylenders. He insists on being his own master by becoming a motor mechanic.
He can realize his dream by joining a garage and learn the job of repairing cars and driving them. He will have to overcome many hurdles before he succeeds. Then comes the transport problem. Money is the first one. He will have to earn some money himself. The garage is a long way from his home. He will have to cover it twice every day anyhow—by walking on foot.
Patience, hard work, the firm will, and the determination to learn will help him realize his dream.
Q2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
Ans. The glass bangles industry has many health hazards. It usually employs small children. It is illegal to employ very young children in hazardous industries, but certain forces like! middlemen, moneylenders, police, and politicians combine to entrap the poor workers.
Let us first consider the places where bangle makers work. It is a cottage industry. They work in glass furnaces with high temperatures. The dingy cells are without air and light. Boys and girls work hard during the day next to lines of flames of flickering oil lamps.
They weld pieces of colored 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.
Glass blowing, welding, and soldering pieces of glass are all health hazards. Even the dust from polishing the glass of bangles adversely affects the eyes and even adults go blind. Thus, the surroundings, prevailing conditions, and the type of job involved all prove risky to the health of the workers.
Q3. Why should child labour be eliminated and how?
Ans. Child labour should be eliminated because the children employed at a tender age as domestic servants, dish-washers at roadside dhabas, and in hazardous industries making glass bangles, birds, crackers, etc. lose the charm of the spring of their life. Their childhood is stolen. Burdened by the responsibility of work, they become adults too soon. Most of them are undernourished, ill-fed, uneducated, and poor. They have stunted growth.
Child labour can be eliminated only through concerted efforts on the part of government agencies, NGOs (Non-Government Organisations), cooperative societies, and political leaders. Mere passing of law will not help. Laws should be enacted faithfully. The children thrown out of work should be rehabilitated and given proper food, clothes, education, and pocket money. Their feelings, thoughts and emotions should be respected. Let them enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.
THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE
Although this text speaks of factual events and situations of misery, it transforms these situations with an almost poetical prose into a literary experience. How does it do so? Here are some literary devices:
•Hyperbole is a way of speaking or writing that makes something sound better or more exciting than it really is. For example: Garbage to them is gold.
•A Metaphor, as you may know, compares two things or ideas that are not very similar. A metaphor describes a thing in terms of a single quality or feature of some other thing; we can say that a metaphor “transfers” a quality of one thing to another. For example: The road was a ribbon of light.
•Simile is a word or phrase that compares one thing with another using the words “like” or “as”. For example: As white as snow.
Carefully read the following phrases and sentences taken from the text. Can you identify the literary device in each example?
1.Saheb-e-Alam which means the lord of the universe is directly in contrast to what Saheb is in reality.
2.Drowned in an air of desolation
3.Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically.
4.For the children it is wrapped in wonder; for the elders it is a means of survival.
5.As her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine, I wonder if she knows the sanctity of the bangles she helps make.
shoulders.
Answers
1.Hyperbole 2.Metaphor 3.Contrast 4.Contrast
5.Simile 6.Contrast 7.Hyperbole 8.Metaphor
9.Metaphor 10.Hyperbole 11.Contrast
THINGS TO DO
The beauty of the glass bangles of Firozabad contrasts with the misery of people who produce them. This paradox is also found in some other situations, for example, those who work in gold and diamond mines, or carpet weaving factories, and the products of their labour, the lives of construction workers and the buildings they build.
•Look around and find examples of such paradoxes.
•Write a paragraph of about 200 to 250 words on any one of them. You can start by making notes.
Here is an example of how one such paragraph may begin:
You never see the poor in this town. By day they toil, working cranes and earth movers, squirreling deep into the hot sand to lay the foundations of chrome. By night they are banished
to bleak labour camps at the outskirts of the city
Ans. For self-attempt.
MORE QUESTIONS SOLVED
SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
Q1. Who was Saheb? What was he doing in garbage dumps & why?
Ans. Saheb was a young boy living in the neighborhood of the author. He was looking for something useful in the garbage dumps useful (gold in garbage). He had left his home in Bangladesh and came here in search of living. He has nothing else to do but pick rags.
Q2. What changes occur in Saheb's Life? Is it a good change or bad? [CBSE 2020]
Or
What job did Saheb take up? Was he happy ? [All-India 2014]
Ans. Saheb was now working at a Tea-stall. Saheb was paid 800 rupees and all his meals but he was not happy. These changes were not good for Saheb. He was no longer his own master.
Q3. “But promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak world.” What promise does the narrator recall? In what context was this promise made & was it fulfilled?
Ans. Once, while interacting with Saheb, the author asked Saheb about going to school. Saheb said that there was no school in his neighborhood. The author Half-jokingly asked whether he would come to school when she will start one. Saheb agreed to do so. After a few days, Saheb asked the author if the school is ready. The author felt very embarrassed for making such a hollow promise.
Q4. What is Saheb’s full name and what does it mean? Does he know its meaning? How does he conduct himself?
Ans. Saheb full name is “Saheb-e-Alam” which means the lord of the universe. He does not know the meaning of his name. If he knew it, he would have hardly believed it. He wanders the streets barefoot with other rag-pickers. This army of barefoot boys appears in the morning and disappears at noon.
Q5. How does the author focus on the ‘perpetual state of poverty’ of the children not wearing footwear?
Ans. The author notices that most of the young children engaged in rag picking are not wearing footwear. Some of them do not have chappals. Others want to wear shoes. Some say it is tradition to stay barefoot. To the author it seems lack of money. Poverty forces them to walk without footwear.
Q6. Explain: “For children, garbage has a meaning different from what it means to their parents. ”
Ans. Small children scrounge heaps of garbage. They expect to get some coin, note or valuable thing in it. Sometimes they find a rupee or even a ten rupee note. This gives the hope of finding more. They search it excitedly. For children, garbage is wrapped in wonder.
For the elders it is a means of survival. Thus, garbage has two different meanings.
Q7. Where does the author find Saheb one winter morning? What explanation does Saheb offer?
Ans. The author finds Saheb standing by the fenced gate of a neighbourhood club. He is watching two young men, dressed in white, playing tennis. Saheb says that he likes the game, but he is content to watch it standing behind the fence. He goes inside when no one is around. He uses the swing there.
Q8. How has “a dream come true” for Saheb but what is “out of his reach?”
Ans. Saheb is wearing discarded tennis shoes. One of them has a hole. Saheb does not bother about the hole. For one who has walked barefoot, even shoes with a hole is a dream come true. But tennis, the game he is watching so intently, is out of his reach.
Q9. How does Saheb’s life change when he starts working at the tea-stall?
Ans. Saheb now has a regular income. He is paid 800 rupees and all his meals. Thus, food is no problem. But his face has lost the carefree look. The steel canister in his hand now seems a burden. He is no longer his own master. He may have to work for longer hours. The helplessness of doing things at his own will makes him sad.
Q10. 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 failed to renovate his house or send his two sons to school. Mukesh insists on being his own master. His dream is to be a motor mechanic. He wants to drive a car. Given the conditions of existence, his dream looks like a mirage amidst the dust.
Q11.What do you learn about Firozabad from this chapter ?
Ans. Firozabad is famous for its glass bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry.
Families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for all the women in the land. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles.
Q12. “Born in the caste of bangle-makers they have seen nothing but bangles.” Where do they ‘see’ bangles?
Ans. Children like Mukesh are bpm in the caste of bangle-makers. They know no other work.
They see bangles in the house, in the yard, in every other house, every other yard, every street in Firozabad. The spirals of bangles lie in mounds in unkempt yards. They are piled on four wheeled hand carts.
Q13. 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 are of every colour bom out of the seven colours of the rainbow. These are sunny gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink and purple. Boys and girls work in dark hutments, next to the flickering flames of oil lamps around furnaces, blowing glass, welding and soldering it to make bangles.
Q14. What are most of the bangle-makers ignorant of? What would happen if law were enforced strictly?
Ans. Most of the bangle-makers are ignorant of the fact that employing children in bangle making is illegal. This is a hazardous industry. Many children become blind before reaching tHeir adulthood. If the law were enforced strictly, 20,000 children would be released from
working hard throughout the day at hot furnaces with high temperatures. *
Q15. Where is Mukesh’s house located? What is he proud of?
Ans. Mukesh’s house is built in a slum-area. The lanes stink with garbage. The homes there are hovels with crumbling walls, wobbly doors and no windows. These are crowded with families of humans and animals. Most of these houses are shacks or huts. Mukesh is proud that his house is being rebuilt. His eyes shine as he volunteers to take the author to his home,
Q16. What impression do you form about Mukesh ‘s family on having a glimpse of their ‘house?’
Ans. Mukesh’s house is a half built shack with a wobbly door. One part of it is thatched with dead grass. There is a firewood stove. Spinach leaves are sizzling in a large vessel. More chopped vegetables lie on aluminium platters. The eyes of the frail young woman are filled with smoke, but she smiles. The scene depicts their grinding poverty but contentment with their lot.
Q17. Give a thumb-nail sketch of the “frail young woman” in the chapter ‘Lost Spring’.
Ans. The young woman is the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother. Her eyes are filled with the smoke of firewood. Though not much older in years, she commands respect as the daughter- in-law of the house. She adheres to customs and traditions. She veils her face before male elders. She gently withdraws behind the broken wall to do so.
Q18. How would you regard Mukesh’s father’s life and achievement?
Ans. Mukesh’s father was bom in the caste of bangle-makers. His father went blind with the dust from polishing the glass of bangles. He is an old and poor bangle-maker. He has worked hard for long years, first as a tailor and then as a bangle-maker. He has failed to renovate a house or send his two sons to school.
Q19. “Savita is a symbol of innocence and efficiency.” Comment.
Ans. Savita is a young girl. She has put on drab pink dress. She is soldering pieces of glass. Her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine. She is innocent as she is ignorant about the sanctity of the bangles she helps to make.
Q20. What do bangles symbolise? When, according to the author, will Savita know “the sanctity of the bangles she helps make?” How is the Indian bride dressed?
Ans. Bangles symbolise auspiciousness in marriage for an Indian woman. Savita will come to know “the sanctity” of the bangles when she becomes a bride. The head of a bride is draped with a red veil. Her hands are dyed with red henna. Red bangles are rolled on to her wrists.
Q21. “She still has bangles on her wrist but no light in her eyes.” What exactly does the author want to convey through this?
Ans. ‘She’ is an elderly woman who became a bride long ago. Since her husband, an old man with a flowing beard is still alive, she still has bangles on her wrist. She has, however, not enjoyed even one full nteal in her entire lifetime. So, there is no light in her eyes. This is just a comment on the abject poverty and helplessness of the bangle-makers.
Q22. “The young men echo the lament of their elders. ” What do you think is the common complain t ? How has it affected their lives?
Ans. The bangle-makers of Firozabad are quite poor. They do not have enough money to do anything except carry on the business of making bangles. Some even do not have enough to pacify their hunger. Building a house for the family is an achievement for them. Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and the ability to dream.
Q23. Why do the bangle-makers not organise themselves into a cooperative?
Ans. Most of the young bangle-makers have fallen into the traps of the middlemen. They are also afraid of the police. They know that the police will haul them up, beat them and drag to jail for doing something illegal. There is no leader among them to help them see things differently. Their fathers are equally tired. They can do nothing except carrying on their i inherited business.
Q24. Which two distinct worlds does the author notice among the bangle-making industry ?
Ans. The families of the bangle-makers belong to one of these worlds. These workers are caught in the web of poverty. They are also burdened by the stigma of the caste in which they are bom. They know no other work. The other world is the vicious circle of the moneylenders, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of the law, the bureaucrats and the politicians.
Q25. How is Mukesh different from the other bangle makers of Firozabad? [Delhi 2014]
Ans. Mukesh is quite different from other bangle makers of Firozabad because he has the courage to take initiative and break from the traditional family occupation. He has strong will power also. He insists on being his own master by becoming a motor mechanic.
Q26. What do you think is the plight of the children born in the families of bangle-makers?
Ans. The vicious circle of the middlemen and their allies have entrapped the poor bangle- makers in their nets. The stronghold is suffocating. They have imposed a heavy burden on little children. They can’t put it down. Before they are able to think, they accept the baggages as naturally as their fathers.
Q27. What do you think is the theme of ‘Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood’?
Ans. The theme of the chapter is the grinding poverty and the traditions which condemn poor children to a life of exploitation. The two stories taken together depict the plight of street children forced into labour early in life and denied the opportunity of schooling. The callousness of the society and the political class only adds to the sufferings of these poor people.
LONG ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS
Q1.What are the dreams of the poor like ‘Saheb-e-Alam’ and Mukesh? Could these be realised? What is the reality of the situation?
Ans. Poor rag-pickers like Saheb spend the early years of their lives looking for gold in garbage dumps. The parents of these street children have no fixed income. They wage war against poverty and hunger. They have no dreams except finding the means of survival. Garbage to them is gold. It is the source of their daily bread and provides a roof over their heads. He ends up as a servant at a tea-stall and loses his freedom.
Mukesh, the son of a poor bangle-maker of Firozabad, has a dream of becoming a motor mechanic. He wants to learn to drive a car. He thinks of joining a garage to fulfil his dream. He knows that the garage is far away, yet he has decided to walk. He realises the reality and is willing to overcome the obstacles. His daring to rise and decision to get free from the trap laid by vicious moneylenders and middle men arouse a sense of hope.Deprived of education, proper food and upbringing, these children are forced into labour early in life.
Q2. Firozabad presents a strange paradox. Contrast the beauty of the glass bangles of Firozabad with the misery of the people who produce them.
Ans. Firozabad, the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry, is famous for its bangles. Spirals of bangles of various colours can be seen lying in mounds in yards or piled on four wheeled push carts. These bangles have shining bright colours: sunny gold, paddy
green, royal blue, pink, purple-in fact, every colour bom out of the seven colours of the rainbow.
The banglemakers lead a miserable life. They know no other work than bangle making. They have neither courage nor money to start another trade or job. they have spent generations in the clutches of middle men and moneylenders. Extreme poverty forces them to remain hungry and yet work all day. The elderly woman,who works with Savita, has not enjoyed even one full meal in her entire lifetime. Her husband has made a house for the family to live in. He has achieved what many have failed in their lifetime. Mukesh’s father has failed to renovate a house or send his two sons to school. Young boys are as tired as their fathers. Their work at hot furnaces makes them blind prematurely.
Q3.(i) “Survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking.”
(ii) “Garbage to them is gold.”
(iii) “For the children it (garbage) is wrapped in wonder, for the elders it is a means of survival.”
In the light of the above remarks write an account of the life and activities of the ragpickers settled in Seemapuri (Delhi).
Or
Give a brief account of the life and activities of the Bangladeshi squatters like Saheb-e-Alam settled in Seemapuri.
Ans. Seemapuri is a place on the periphery of Delhi, yet miles away from it metaphorically. Squatters who came from Bangladesh way back in 1971 live here. Saheb’s family is one of them. Seemapuri was then a wilderness. It still is, but it is no longer empty. Nearly 10,000 ragpickers live there in structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin. These shanties are devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. These people have lived there for more than thirty years without an identity or permit. They have got ration cards that enable them to buy grains and get their names on voters’ lists. For them food is more important for survival than an identity. The women put on tattered saris. They left their fields as they gave them no grain. They pitch their tents wherever they find food. Ragpicking is the sole means of their survival.
It has acquired the proportions of a fine art for them. Garbage to them is gold. It provides them their daily bread and a roof over the heads. Most of the barefoot ragpickers roam the streets early in the morning and finish their activities by noon. They seem to carry the plastic bag lightly over their shoulders. They are clothed in discoloured shirts and shorts and denied the opportunity of schooling.
Q4. “The cry of not having money to do anything except carry on the business of making bangles, not even enough to eat, rings in every home. The young men echo the lament of their elders. Little has moved with time, it seems, in Firozabad.” Comment on the hardships of the banglemakers of Firozabad with special emphasis on the forces that conspire against them and obstruct their progress.
Ans. The bangle-makers of Firozabad are bom in poverty, live in poverty and die in poverty. For generations these people have been engaged in this trade—working around hot furnaces with high temperature, welding and soldering glass to make bangles. In spite of hard labour throughout the day, the return is meagre. Some of them have to sleep with empty, aching stomachs. Others do not have enough to eat. Whatever they do get is not delicious or nourishing.
The stinking lanes of their shanty town are choked with garbage. Their hovels have crumbling walls, wobbly doors and no windows. These are overcrowded with humans and animals.
Poverty and hunger, social customs and traditions, stigma of caste and the intrigues of powerful lobby that thrives on their labour combine to keep them poor, uneducated and hungry. The moneylenders, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians—all are ranged against them. Children are engaged in illegal and hazardous work. Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and ability to dream. They are unable to organise themselves into cooperative due to lack of a leader and fear of ill-treatment at the hands of the police. They seem to carry the burden that they can’t put down. They can talk but not act to improve their lot.
Q5. Compare and contrast the two families of bangle-sellers portrayed in ‘Lost Spring.’ Comment on the roles of individuals in highlighting the issues raised by the author.
Ans. One of the families is that of Mukesh's. It comprises three males and two females: Mukesh, his brother, their father, their grandmother, and the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother. The grandmother had watched her own husband go blind with the dust from polishing the glass of bangles. Mukesh’s father is a poor old bangle maker, who has failed to renovate a house and send his two sons to school. Mukesh and his brother make bangles. The wife of Mukesh’s brother is a traditional daughter-in-law who follows the customs and cooks food for the family. The grandmother believes in destiny and caste. Only Mukesh shows some sparks of fighting the system and declares that he wants to be a motor mechanic.
Savita, the elderly woman and her old, bearded husband form the other family. Young and innocent Savita works mechanically. The elderly woman highlights the plight of bangle makers who fail to enjoy even one full meal during the entire lifetime. The old man has an achievement to his credit. He has made a house for the family to live in. He has a roof over his head.
The lifestyle, problems and economic conditions of the two families are similar. There is only a difference of degree but not of kind in their existence and response to life’s problems.
