SHORT SUMMARY LOST SPRING...
Lost Spring Theme

In this story, the author unveils the utter destitution of the ragpickers of Seemapuri and the bangle makers of Firozabad. This story describes the grinding poverty and traditions that compel the children to live a life of exploitation.

Lost Spring Summary in English

Saheb, the son of a migrant family from Dhaka, is a ragpicker who lives in Seemapuri, at the periphery of Delhi, and goes about barefoot rummaging around in the heaps of garbage to earn his livelihood. For the children like Saheb, a heap of garbage is like a gold mine. Thousands of such children live with their families in Seemapuri. They live in a slum with not even the basic amenities, such as water and sanitation, available to them. These families are living in utter poverty.

The children have nothing to do except ragpicking through which they earn something to eat at least. Garbage to the elders is a means of survival but for these children it is a magical wonder. In order to earn better, Saheb starts working at a tea-stall where he is paid Rs.800 per month but it seems he, after this, loses his carefreeness. He works for someone else and is no longer his own master. This loss of identity weighs heavily on his tender shoulders.

Anees Jung, then tells about Mukesh, another young boy, who wants to be his own master. He is a boy from Firozabad’s glass industry and as a family tradition he has always worked in the glass bangle factory. Here, the children work in close proximity of furnaces in such high temperatures that they are exposed to various health hazards, even losing their eyesight.

Mukesh’s family, like other families of Firozabad, are victims of poverty. His father is blind, and they live in a small half-constructed house. These people of Firozabad are exploited by the sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the bureaucrats and the politicians. But Mukesh is different and confident, He wants to be a motor mechanic.

In the story, the author brings out the depravity of child labour. Childhood is considered as spring of human life full of joy, pleasure and play. But ironically millions of children like Saheb and Mukesh have lost their spring, i.e. childhood by getting engaged in making a living.