Chapter 7: Lost Spring

English
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Chapter 2: Lost Spring

Class: XII

Exercise number – 1

Question 1

Notice these expressions in the text. Infer their meaning from the context.

Answer 1

Expressions	Meaning
Looking for	Trying to locate or discover
Slog their daylight hours	Struggle persistently during the daytime
Roof over his head	A place to live
Perpetual state of poverty	Endless impoverishment
Dark hutments	Encampment of huts devoid of any light
Imposed the baggage on the child	Enforced the profession on the child

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Think As you Read

Question 1

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

from?

Answer 1

Saheb is searching for gold within the garbage dumps. He’s within the neighbourhood of the
author. Saheb has come back from Bangla Desh. He came together with his mother in 1971. His house was set amidst the green fields of Dhaka. Storms swept away their fields and houses. So that they left it.

Question 2

What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?

Answer 2

The author comes across several shoeless rag-picker children in her neighbourhood.
According to her, one clarification of this habit of remaining barefoot is that it's a convention
among the poor children of this country. However, the author quickly mentions that calling
it a convention can be simply a way of justification of the utter poverty.

Question 3

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

Answer 3

No, Saheb is not happy working at the tea-stall.

He is paid 800 rupees and everyone his meals however he has lost his freedom. His face has lost the carefree look. The steel canister looks heavier than his bag. He’s not his own master. He’s a servant at the tea stall.

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Question 1

What makes the city of Firozabad famous?

Answer 1

Firozabad is famous for its glass bangles. The place is the centre of India’s glassblowing

industry.

Question 2

Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.

Answer 2

The bangle manufacturers face several issues in the glass business. They need to work in
the dingy cells without air and light, within the extreme temperature of the chamber. The dirt from polishing the bangles is injurious to eyes. They typically lose their vision before they become adults. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside.

Question 3

How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?

Answer 3

Mukesh belongs to a poor family of bangle-makers, but his perspective is incredibly completely different from his family. He desires to interrupt the family tradition of bangle creating. He’s daring and determined. He has hopes and dreams. He desires to be a motor mechanic.

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Understanding the Text

Question 1

What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?

Answer 1

There are several factors that cause migration of individuals from villages to cities. Some
villagers voluntarily move to the cities in search of jobs and higher civic and health facilities,
etc. Others are forced to migrate once natural disasters like flood, storm, drought, famine,
etc. destroy their homes and properties. History has records of huge scale migrations caused by wars. Moreover, several villagers who are happier than others manage to send their children to study within the cities.
In the lesson ‘Lost Spring’, Saheb and his family migrates to Seemapuri from Dhaka when
their homes were destroyed within the storms.

Question 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 text?

Answer 2

Yes, the promises made to poor children are rarely kept.

Often, they're not taken seriously. They are created on the pretext of holding a child’s fancy for something. This keeps the child hoping for a stronger chance until he/she realises the reality. It’s difficult for individuals to shatter the children’s dreams; whereas it's conjointly painful to visualize these children thriving on false hopes given to them.
Once during an interaction with Saheb, the narrator lands up encouraging him to review and
jokingly talks regarding opening a school herself. At that point she fails to grasp that
unknowingly she has seeded a seed of hope in Saheb’s heart. She becomes aware of her
mistake once, when a couple of days, Saheb approaches her, enquiring about her school. Her hollow promise leaves her embarrassed.

Question 3

What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in

poverty?

Answer 3

The unfavourable social and legal systems, the deceptive middlemen, and their own
sad destinies keep the employees within the bangle industry of Firozabad in perpetual economic condition.

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Talking about the Text

Question 1

How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream?

Answer 1

Mukesh is completely different from the others in his community. By daring to dream, he
has already taken the primary step towards an enormous amendment. He needs to become a motor mechanic and drive a car. He will notice this dream determinedly and hard work. There could be several obstacles on his manner however a robust willpower can facilitate him move towards the way to success. The fact that he's willing to steer an extended distance so as to be told the vocation, underlines his firm resolve. The only issue left for him to do is to form that initial journey to it garage and request the owner to require him in and guide and direct him through his journey as a mechanic.

Question 2

Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.

Answer 2

The impoverished staff within the glass bangles business toil in potentially
hazardous operating conditions whereas attachment. The furnaces they work in have extraordinarily high temperature and lack correct ventilation. Persistently operating in low light-weight conditions, without any protecting eye gear, leaves them blind. Even burns and cuts are quite common. The staff are quite susceptible to ailments like carcinoma (i.e. lung cancer).

Question 3

Why should child labour be eliminated and how?

Answer 3

Child labour should be eliminated as a result of it takes off from the child his
childhood and also the prospect of elementary education. Moreover, since the kid labourers are cheap, and consequently engaged in risky and dangerous employment, they're usually vulnerable to mental and physical unhealthiest. So as to curb this drawback, it's vital to make education simply accessible. With the exception of that, the parents should be made aware of the consequences of operating in harmful environments. It’s additionally vital to create the general public aware of the fact that child labour could be a criminal offence and is punishable beneath law. The government should make sure that the offenders are punished and stricter child -labour laws should be implemented.

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Thinking about Language

Question 1

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.

 

6. She still has bangles on her wrist, but not light in her eyes.

 

7. Few airplanes fly over Firozabad.

 

8. Web of poverty.

 

9. Scrounging for gold.

 

10. And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired

the proportions of a fine art.

 

11. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over

his shoulders.

Answer 1

1. Irony
2. Metaphor
3. Antithesis
4. Antithesis
5. Simile
6. Paradox
7. Alliteration
8. Metaphor
9. Metaphor
10. Hyberbole
11. Paradox

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