Important Questions: Lost Spring | English Class 12 PDF Download

Short Answer Type Questions

Q1: Is it possible for Mukesh to realize his dream? Justify your answer?
Ans: Mukesh’s determination is going to prove instrumental in helping him to realize his dream. His dream can become a reality only if he is able to find a garage where he can be taken in as an apprentice and then he will have to learn how to drive a car. He will then be able to graduate himself to be a good mechanic.

Q2: What does the title, ‘Lost Spring’ convey?
Ans: The title ‘Lost Spring’ conveys how millions of children in India lose out on living the ‘spring’ of their lives, that is their childhood. The best phase of life is lost in the hardships involved to earn their livelihood. Poverty forces these young children to work in the most inhuman conditions as a result of which they miss out on the fun of childhood which hampers their growth.

Q3: What does the writer mean when she says, ‘Saheb is no longer his own master’?
Ans: Since Saheb now works in a tea-stall, he is now bound to his master and feels burdened. The steel canister he carries is very heavy as compared to his light plastic bag. The bag was his own and the canister belongs to his master whose orders he now has to follow. So he is no longer his own master.

Q4: Is Saheb happy working at the tea stall? Why/ Why not?
Ans: No, Saheb is not happy working at the tea stall. Even though, he now gets a fixed income of ?800 alongwith all his meals, he has lost his freedom and his carefree days. He is no longer his own master and is bound and burdened by the steel canister he now has to carry.

Q5: Mention any two problems faced by the bangle sellers.
Ans: The bangle makers had to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells without air and light. They are exposed to various health hazards like losing their eyesight as they work in abysmal conditions in dark and dingy cells. They were also caught in a web of poverty, burdened by the stigma of caste in which they were born and also caught in a vicious circle of sahukars, middlemen and policeman.

Q6: Why didn’t the bangle makers of Ferozabad organise themselves into a cooperative?
Ans: The bangle-makers are caught in a vicious web which starts from poverty to indifferences then to greed and finally to injustice. Mind-numbing toil kills their hopes and dreams.

The bangle makers of Ferozabad were not able to organise themselves into a cooperative because they had got trapped in a vicious circle j of the sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, j the bureaucrats and the politicians. Together they had imposed a baggage on these people 1 which they could not put down.

Q7: Why can’t the bangle makers of Ferozabad organize themselves into a cooperative?
Ans: The bangle-makers are caught in a vicious web which starts from poverty to indifferences then to greed and finally to injustice. Mind-numbing toil kills their hopes and dreams. The bangle makers of Ferozabad were not able to organise themselves into a cooperative because they had got trapped in a vicious circle j of the sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, j the bureaucrats and the politicians. Together they had imposed a baggage on these people 1 which they could not put down.

Q8: Survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. , Comment.
Ans: Survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Over the years it has acquired the proportions of a fine art. For the slum dwellers of Seemapuri, rag-picking is their daily bread, it gives them the roof over their heads and is the very means for their survival.

Q9: A young man in Ferozabad is burdened under the baggage of two worlds. What are they?
Ans: The two worlds that burden a young man in Ferozabad include one of the family, caught in the web of poverty, burdened by the stigma of ” caste in which they are born; the other a vicious circle of the sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians.

Q10: What job did Saheb take up? Was he happy?
Ans: Saheb took up a job in a tea stall. Though he gets 800 rupees and all his meals, he is not happy and his face has lost the carefree look. He is bound and burdened as he now has to follow the orders of his master and is no longer his own master.

Long Answer Type Questions

Q11: Why did Saheb become a ragpicker? What did he look for in the garbage dumps?
Ans: Saheb belongs to a Bangladeshi refugee family that migrated to Delhi from Dhaka in the wake of the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Here he finds himself in a vicious circle of social stigma, poverty and exploitation. He represents a growing number of refugee migrant poor population who are forced to lead a life of penury. This migratory population settle on the periphery of big cities and start doing menial jobs to earn a living. Due to extreme poverty Saheb’s parents are unable to provide for him and so he ends up picking rags for his own survival as well as to support his parents. The author says that Saheb scrounges for ‘gold’ in the garbage. Anything valuable like used clothes, shoes, bits of metal, plastic scrap, stray coins and currency notes can be termed as gold for them.

Q12: Describe the life of squatters at Seemapuri.
Ans: Most of the squatters at Seemapuri were refugees from Bangladesh.
Also:
Most of the people like Saheb-e-Alam settled in Seemapuri were refugees from Bangladesh who had fled their country and migrated to Delhi from Dhaka in the wake of the 1971 Indo- Pak war. Their dwellings were structures of mud, tin and tarpaulin with no sewage, drainage or running water. Picking garbage and rags helped them to earn their daily bread, gave them a roof over their heads and was their only means of livelihood and survival. Though these squatters of Seemapuri have no identity but they do have valid ration cards that enable them to buy grain. Living in Seemapuri, which is on the periphery of Delhi, is like living in hell. Children here grow up to become partners in survival to their parents. An army of barefoot children appears every morning, carrying their plastic bags on their shoulders and disappear by noon. They are forced to live a life of abject poverty that results in the loss of childhood innocence. Saheb, a ragpicker, roamed in the streets, scrounging for garbage, barefoot and deprived of education. Later he starts working in a tea stall but he loses his freedom and carefree life as he is no longer his own master.

Q13: ‘Lost Spring’ explains the grinding poverty and traditions that condemn thousands of people to a life of abject poverty. Do you agree? Why/Why not?
Ans: ‘Lost Spring’ does indeed highlight the miserable plight of thousands of poor people whose life is completely marred by abject poverty and thoughtless traditions. They work extremely hard in the most pathetic conditions and accept poverty and exploitation as their destiny. Through the lives of Saheb-e-Alam, a ragpicker, and Mukesh, a bangle maker, the author highlights the vicious circle of social stigma and poverty which these people are subjected to. Saheb and Mukesh also represent a growing number of refugee migrants and people who are forced to live a life of penury. No one shows any kind of compassion or sensitivity to their pathetic plight and there is also no initiative or commitment for the upliftment of these downtrodden people. Acute poverty, no education and no infrastructural development has drained their energy and willpower and they have no choice but to accept their destiny of inevitable poverty.

Q15: Describe the difficulties the bangle makers of Firozabad have to face in their lives.
Ans: Through the story of the bangle-makers of Ferozabad, the author expresses her concern over their exploitation in the hazardous job of bangle-making. Extreme poverty, hard work and dismal working conditions result in the loss of the childhood of children who are in this profession. The working conditions of all bangle-makers are pathetic and miserable. They work in high temperature, badly lit and poorly ventilated glass furnaces due to which child workers especially are at risk of losing their eyesight at an early age and get prone to other health hazards. The stinking lanes of Ferozabad are choked with garbage and humans and animals live together in these hovels. There is no development or progress in their lives with the passage of time. They have no choice but to work in these inhuman conditions. Mind-numbing toil kills their dreams and hopes. They are condemned to live and die in squalor, subjected to a life of poverty and perpetual exploitation.