LOST SPRING by Anees Jung

Word                            Meaning

Encounter- Come across
Scrounging- Looking for
Garbage- Waste items (foods, paper etc.)
Glibly- Fluently                                                     
Abound- To be plentiful
Rag pickers- A person who collects and sells rags.
Periphery- The outer limits or edge of an area or object.

Squatter- A person who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited building or unused land.

Tarpaulin- Heavy-duty waterproof cloth, originally of tarred canvas.

Dingy- Dark Colored

Thatched- Covered with straw

 Mounds- Hillocks

Question Answers

Think as you read  (part-I)

 

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

Ans: Saheb is scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps. Saheb is in the neighborhood of the author. He came with his mother in 1971 from the green fields of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

2. What explanation does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?

Ans: Author explained that it is a tradition to stay to barefoot but not the lack of money. He however wonders that if it is just an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty. Author in this connection also recalls a the story of a poor boy who prayed to the Goddess for a pair of shoes.

2. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain.

Ans: No, Saheb is not at all happy working at the tea-stall as he is no longer his own master. For Saheb the steel canister seems much heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulder. when the bag belonged to him, the canister belongs to the owner of the tea-shop. 

Think as you read  (part II)

 

1. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?

Ans: The city of Forizabad is famous for bangles. The city is the center for India's glass -blowing industry. Nearly all the families of Firozabad s is engaged in making bangles. 

2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.

Ans: The workers of the glass bangles industry work potentially in hazardous working condition. They use to sit in dark hutments, next to lines of flames of flickering oi lamps. It is due to this reason that their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. As the bangles are manufactured in glass furnaces with high temperature in dingy cells without adequate air, the children often end up losing their eye sight before they become adults. Burns and cuts are also quite common to these workers. These workers are quite prone to disease like lung cancer. 

3. How is Mukesh's attitude to his situation different from that of his family?

Ans: Contrary to his Grandmother's believe that a God-given lineage can never be broken, Mukesh wants to be a motor mechanic. He plans to go to a garage and learn what is needed to become a motor mechanic, though the garage is quite far from where he lives. Though born in the caste of bangle makers Mukesh does not want to confine himself to the traditional so called 'God given lineage and wishes to explore beyond it. 

Additional Questions:

1.Where is Saheb coming from? Why did he have to leave his country?

Ans: Saheb, a rag picker who lives in Seemapuri on the Delhi-UP boarder came to Seemapuri from Bangladesh. Hw came along with thousands of others forced by natural calamities there in Bangladesh.

2. ‘Garbage to them is gold.’ Why does the author say so about the rag-pickers?

Ans: For more than 10,000 rag-pickers of Seemapuri garbage is gold wrapped in wonder. The author said so because for a child, it is the source of bread. A source that can sometimes even get a ragpicker a silver coin or more in a heap of garbage. However for the elders it is a means of survival.

 3. Why did the author realize that her advice was ‘hollow?’

Ans: The author realized that his advised to Saheb to go to school was hollow because going to school had never occurred to children like Saheb. For the rag pickers like Saheb it is not the schooling and learning that is important but rag picking is.

4. Why was the author embarrassed when Saheb asked her if her school was ready?

Ans: Out of a sudden emotion on seeing Saheb picking waste, the author once asked Saheb if he would join her school if she started one. Saheb replied in affirmative. Subsequently, on meeting the author on another day Saheb asked her if her school was ready. The author was then embarrassed as she didn't in fact wanted to start a school as told by her and expected by Saheb.

5. How did garbage hold different meanings for adults and children?

Ans: Garbage hold different meanings for both adults and children. For adults rag picking was only a means of survival however for a child it involves a lot of excitement. For a child garbage is gold wrapped in wonder asthere was always a hope of coming across unexpected surprises.

6.Why should there be a hard time for Saheb to believe the meaning of his name?

Ans: Saheb’s full name is Saheb-E-Alam which means the Lord of the Universe. Saheb's name and and his life was a complete pardox as being a poor rag picker, he cannot believe that the Lord of the Universe is supposed to be like him.  It is because of this fact that he would certainly struggle to believe the meaning of his name.

7. How is Seemapuri both near and far away from Delhi?

Ans: Author remarks that Seemapuri is both near and far from Delhi. It is because  geographically Seemapuri is a backward area on the periphery of Delhi but practically if its traditions, standard of life and people are considered Seemapuri is far behind the time and quite far from Delhi.

8.Food is more important for survival than an identity. How is this statement true in the lives of the Seemapurian rag pickers?

Ans: For the thousands of rag pickers of Seemapuri it is the food not the identity that is important. 
Despite of having no identity in the society they are happy of the fact that they get to eat and don't need to starve now as they used to in Bangladesh from where they had come from.

9. How did Seemapuri turn out to be a better place for the Bangladeshis?

Ans: 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.

10. Why is Saheb keenly watching the neighborhood tennis players?

Sometime Saheb can be found outside the club watching people play tennis. He is not interested in playing tennis. He was content to watch the game from outside. He is more interested in using the swing.

11. Karam and God-given lineage amply tell the sad picture of the stigma of religion that rules the poor people of India? Explain.

Ans: India is still primitive in many spheres of life even in our time. A big majority of Indians in the villages still believe the division of labor system that began centuries ago. When one is not doing any better in life due to the unwillingness to adopt another profession, they accept it as God’s plan and do the same work as if it is a God given lineage.

12. Which are the two hurdles that Mukesh has to break away for a better existence?

Mukesh has realized that being a bangle maker will not alleviate his poverty and therefore he wishes to become a motor mechanic to be successful in his life. But doing any job other than bangle making is out of question in his society. He has to first convince his family and society of the need of undertaking another profession. If the society lets him choose his way, Mukesh has to face an inconvincible group of middlemen, politicians and their watchdogs, the police of Firozabad, who are altogether the sole beneficiaries.

13. What is the vicious circle for the people of Firozabad? Why is it called so?

Ans: The vicious circle of the people of Firozabad is that they believe that the job of bangle making is a god given lineage and they must be happy about this age old traditional occupation prevailing over many generations. However in reality it is a trap surrounded by false notions and traditional  beliefs. It is actually the opportunist section consists of the rich people, politicians, policeman, middleman etc. who want them to believe in such beliefs for their own gain.

14. Do you think Mukesh will reach his goal of becoming a motor mechanic? Give reasons.

Ans: Yes, I do think that Mukesh will one day become a motor mechanic. Most importantly though born in the caste of bangle makers Mukesh does not want to confine himself to the traditional so called 'God given lineage' and wishes to explore beyond it. He is practical in his thinking and decided to go to a garage to learn all it requires to become a mechanic which is quite far from where he lives. After knowing the hard realities of life he decided to change his fate and opted to go for something non-traditional. His dream and goal is therefore obviously reachable if he could overcome all the hurdles on its way.