Chapter 2 Lost Spring Solutions
Question - 1 : - What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps ? Where is he and where has he come from ?
Answer - 1 : -
Saheb is looking for or trying to find valuable things or money in the garbage dumps. He is in Delhi living at Seemapuri, which is at the outskirts of Delhi. He has come from Bangladesh.
Question - 2 : - What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear ?
Answer - 2 : -
One explanation for the children remaining barefoot is that it is not lack of money but a tradition to remain barefoot. The author feels that this is only an excuse to explain away a continuous state of poverty.
Question - 3 : - Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall ? Explain.
Answer - 3 : -
I do not think Saheb is happy working at the tea-stall. Though he has regular income, yet his face has lost the carefree look and he is no longer his own master, as the author comments. On this basis we can say that he is not happy working at the tea-stall.
Question - 4 : - What makes the city of Firozabad famous ?
Answer - 4 : -
The city of Firozabad is famous for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles.
Question - 5 : - Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry ?
Answer - 5 : -
Working in the glass bangles industry is tedious and unhealthy. They have to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dark cells without air and light. Working continuously throughout the day under such conditions is too hazardous for the health and eyes, especially for a large number of children working there. They often lose the brightness of their eyes.
Question - 6 : - How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family ?
Answer - 6 : -
Mukesh’s attitude to his situation differs from his family as he wants to be a motor mechanic whereas his family has spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles.
Question - 7 : - What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities ?
Answer - 7 : -
A large number of people are forced to migrate to cities from their villages, looking for various means of livelihood. The land in the villages is limited for agriculture. When the families grow, they are not able to accommodate all the members in their ancestral agricultural profession. As a result of it, they go to the cities to earn their livelihood. Sometimes because of frequent natural calamities like storms etc.
which swept away their fields and homes, they are forced to come to big or small cities. However, some villagers also come to the cities being attracted and fascinated by the facilities which the city life provides. Moreover most of the big industries which provide employment to a large number of people are in the cities.
That is why to seek employment people from villages come there. Many rickshaw pullers and some auto rickshaw drivers also come from the villages to earn money. Some villagers also start jobs like dairy farming and supply milk in the cities to enhance their incomes.
Question - 8 : - 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 - 8 : -
It is generally seen that promises made to the poor children are most often not kept. For instance, in this lesson the author asks Saheb to go to school. When Saheb replies that there is no school in the neighbourhood, the author asks him half-jokingly that if she starts a school, then he would come.
The promises thus made with the poor children are not real or serious or they are made “half-jokingly’. Saheb, like other poor children, takes the promises made to them seriously, and asks the author if her school is ready. That is why the author says that, ‘But promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak world’.
Similarly, promises made to poor children or steps supposed to be taken for their welfare by government or other agencies hardly materialise either because of lack of sincerity or excuse of having not enough resources.
Question - 9 : - What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty ?
Answer - 9 : -
Firozabad is famous for its bangles and bangle industry. There families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass and making bangles. There are around 20,000 children working in miserable conditions in bangle industry of Firozabad. But the workers involved in this industry are forced to lead a life of poverty.
They cannot send their children to schools nor they can provide sufficient food for their family-members. Most of them have not enjoyed even one full meal in their entire lives. It is because the vicious circle of middlemen take most of their profit. They are entrapped throughout their lives in “a web of poverty” caused by a vicious circle of the moneylenders, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of the law, the bureaucrats and the politicians. They are entrapped in this web from one generation to another.
Question - 10 : - How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream ?
Answer - 10 : -
Mukesh belongs to Firozabad, where every other family is engaged in making bangles. Mukesh’s family also is doing the same job for the last many generations. But Mukesh does not want to adopt his family profession. Rather, he wants to become a motor mechanic. Mukesh is justified in thinking so. He has seen that despite working so hard and so steadily under unhealthy and hazardous conditious, his family is so poor that it is difficult to maintain or provide even the bare necessities of life.
In my opinion, Mukesh can realise his dream of being a motor mechanic because of the indomitable will power and firm determination he seems to possess. Though his family- members are unlikely to agree to what he wishes to do leaving the long-preserved art of bangles-making, yet I hope he will be able to overcome the resistance.
He has many reasons to convince his family-members that what he wishes to do is right and ultimately beneficial for him and his family. Besides economic advantages, Mukesh can convince his family- members that the job of a motor mechanic will be good for his health. Moreover, he would not face the risk of gradually losing eyesight as he would if he becomes a bangle-maker.