Spring is the Season of optimism and hope. Spring is the metaphor of childhood stage in a person’s life. From birth till late childhood, life for every child is almost the beginning of a bright and a shiny future. Childhood is featured by innocence, physical stamina and vitality, tremendous urge for the outdoors and a tremendous appetite for fun and play. Activities have no limits. It is also the stage for gaining skill and knowledge, learning and going to school. The lost spring by Anees Jung is an expression of national shame of children condemned to poverty and a life of exploitation. The two protagonists/ central characters of the chapter, Sahebe-Alam and Mukesh lose their childhood in carrying the burden of poverty and illiteracy. In their bleak stories of exploitation, the author finds glimpses of resilience and fortitude
Seemapuri a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it metaphorically. Justify Seemapuri the rag pickers shanty is just on the outskirt of Delhi but it is far away from Delhi so far as Delhi’s glitter and facilities are concerned. Here the squatters of Bangladesh who came after 1971 war live in structures of mud with roof of tin or tarpaulin. There is no sewerage, drainage or pipe water that Delhites enjoy. Thus geographically Seema Puri is a part of New Delhi, the capital city but the ground reality is that it is a slum with doom glaring.
Through the years rag picking has acquired the ‘proportion of a fine art’ in Seemapuri. Justify the statement. The means of survival of migrants of Bangladesh in Seemapuri is rag picking. Garbage to them is gold. Like a fine art that has no end in appealing the sense of beauty the rag picker’s searching the garbage is a never ending process which provides them their daily breead day after day. They develop a skill of finding articles valuable enough to fulfill their needs.
Does the rag picking mean the same thing for parents and children? Give reasons No, rag picking is not the same for parents and children. For children it is wrapped in wonders where as for parents it is the means of survival. The small rag pickers scrounge/ search heaps of garbage for some coin, note or valuable things. Sometimes they do find a rupee or even a ten rupee note. Then they hope to find more. They search excitedly and spend on trivial things of their choice while their parents consider it a serious business to make their two ends meet. Hence garbage has two different meanings.
How is Saheb's name full of irony? Saheb's full name is Saheb-e-Alam meaning 'Lord of the Universe'. But Saheb is poverty stricken, barefoot, homeless rag picker who scrounges/ searches the garbage dumps of Delhi to make a livelihood. His name is in total contrast to his very existence and is thus deeply ironical.
Why was Saheb not happy on getting a job?
Saheb was not happy on getting a job in tea stall for a salary of Rs.800/- per month as he had lost his freedom. He had to carry the stall owner’s steel canister in place of his bag. He lost his carefree look. He was now no longer his own master.
Why don’t the bangle makers of Firozabad organise themselves? The bangle makers are trapped in the vicious circle of middlemen and police. If they organise a co operative they will be hauled up, beaten and dragged to jail by police for doing something illegal. There is no leader to help them out from their misery. They are the victims of greed and injustice.
Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry?
The glass bangle industry of Firozabad employs children and they work in very unhealthy and hazardous conditions. They are made to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells without air and light. Almost twenty thousand children work in the hot furnaces, often losing the brightness of their eyes. Many workers become blind while polishing the glass bangles. Many children lose their eyesight before they become adults. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities? The people migrate from villages to cities because of natural disasters and resulting poverty. A rag picker recollects many storms/ natural calmities that have swept away his fields and home in Dhaka. That is why they left, looking for gold, artificial glitter in the big city where they now live. 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? I agree that promises made to poor children are rarely kept. It is easy to say to poor children that they should be in school but will we ever be in a position to start a school. As an individual, it is difficult to provide facilities and assistance that can remove poverty.
What is Saheb looking for? Where is he and where has he come from?
Saheb lives near the garbage dumps in Seemapuri on the outskirts of Delhi. His family came from Bangladesh. Survival in Seemapuri means rag picking. Garbage to them is gold. Saheb looks for coins in the heaps of garbage. He even finds a ten rupee note sometimes. When one can find a silver coin in a heap of Garbage, one can’t stop scrounging for there is hope of finding more. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing foot wear? Travelling across the country the author has observed children walking barefoot in cities and on village roads. It is not lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot is one explanation. The author wonders if this is only an excuse to explain a constant state of poverty. What makes the city of Firozabad famous? Firozabad is famous for bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass blowing industry where families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for women all over India.
How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
Mukesh insists on being his own master. He has seen the poverty, the dangers and the sub-human living conditions of the glass bangle industry. He wants to be a motor mechanic. His hope, resourcefulness and determination to break free are admirable ‘his dream looms like a mirage’, amidst the dust of streets. His thinking with a positive attitude is so different from his family which is struggling to survive the burden of the lineage. He wants to rebuild his destiny and does not want to become a glass bangle maker. What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty? The workers in the bangle industry have remained in poverty and years of mind numbing labour has destroyed their initiative and ability to dream. They cannot organize themselves into a cooperative as they are fallen in a vicious circle of middlemen who trapped their fathers and forefathers. The police beat them up if they get organized, there is no leader who can take up their cause. The author identifies the forces that conspire against them. They are the stigma of caste, a destructive cycle of the Sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians.
Who is Mukesh? What is his dream? Why does it look like a ‘mirage amidst the dust’?
Mukesh is the son of a poor bangle maker of Firozabad, where every other family is engaged in making bangles. His poor father has been unable to renovate the house or educate his sons. Mukesh wants to be his own master and dreams to become a motor mechanic. He wants to drive a car. But the conditions under which he exists, this dream is like an illusion, a mirage. What contrast do you notice between the colours of the bangles and the atmosphere of the place where these bangles are made? The bangles made in Firozabad are of every hue (colour) born out of the rainbow. They are sunny, gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink and purple. While the boys and girls work in dark dingy huts next to the flames of oil lamps around the high heat of the furnaces, blowing glass, welding and soldering it to make bangles.
The bangle makers are ignorant of something. What is it? What would happen if law were enforced strictly?
The bangle-makers are unaware of the fact that child labour is illegal and has been banned by law. The industry is hazardous to their health. Many children become blind before reaching their adulthood. If the law were enforced strictly, 20000 children would be released from working hard throughout the day at hot furnaces with high temperatures.
‘Savita is a symbol of innocence and efficiency’. Comment. Savita is a young girl. She is wearing a drab pink dress. She is soldering pieces of glass. Her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine. She is innocent and does not understand the sanctity of the bangles that she is making. She is very efficient in her work. The bangles which she makes are a mark of beauty and embellishment for others. They are means of survival for her.
‘The beauty of the glass bangles of Firozabad contrasts with the misery of people who produce them’. Discuss the endless spiral of poverty, apathy, greed and injustice present The lesson ‘Lost Spring’ describes the apathy for the bangle-makers on two planes.
Firstly, it is the plight of the street children forced into labour early in life and denied the opportunity of studying in schools. Secondly, the glass industry has its own hazards-The illegal employment of very young children and the pathetic working conditions. Over and above, it is the apathy and callousness of society and the political class to the sufferings of the poor that makes us feel sympathetic towards these bangle makers. They work in glass furnaces with high temperatures. Their dingy cells have no light, no ventilation. Boys and girls work under these conditions while welding pieces of coloured glass to make bangles. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. They often lose their eyesight at a young age. The other reason that the poverty stricken bangle makers suffer is because of the exploitation at the hands of the middle men and politicians. They do not work to bring an improvement in their conditions, instead they get brutally beaten up by the police. They are unable to organize themselves. Hence, their life is full of sufferings both physical and emotional.
Literary Devices
1. Saheb-e-Alam which means the lord of the universe is directly in contrast to what Saheb is in reality. . Irony
2. Drowned in an air of desolation. Metaphor
3. Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically. Antithesis
4. For the children it is wrapped in wonder; for the elders it is a means of survival. Antithesis
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. Simile
6. She still has bangles on her wrist, but not light in her eyes.
7. Few airplanes fly over Firozabad.
8. Web of poverty. Metaphor
9. Scrounging for gold. Metaphor
10. And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art. Hyberbole
11. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulders. Paradox.
Warm wishes, Sonu Nayyar
