Updated on 31/05/2026
2. Lost Spring- Stories of Stolen Childhood (Anees Jung)
Main Points of the Chapter
This story has been divided into two parts. First about a ragpicker named Saheb and second part is about a bangle maker ‘Mukesh’.
Saheb is a ragpicker. His full name is Saheb-e-Alam which means ‘Lord of the Universe’.
Anees Jung sees him daily scrounging the garbage dumps.
He came from Dhaka (Bangladesh) because storms had destroyed their homes and fields.
Like many other families of ragpickers, Saheb’s family also lives in Seemapuri (Delhi)
About 10,000 ragpickers live there in miserable conditions.
They have been living there for more than thirty years.
Their houses are made of mud, tin and tarpaulin.
One morning, the writer sees Saheb who was watching two young men playing tennis.
He tells her that he likes the game. He is also wearing tennis shoes which were given by a rich boy because there was a hole in them.
Now Saheb works in a tea stall. He gets 800 rupees but is no longer his own master.
The writer describes the life of another poor boy named Mukesh.
He lives in a dusty street of Firozabad which is famous for its bangles.
His family works in a bangle factory. But Mukesh has dreams to be a motor mechanic.
More than 20,000 children work in the bangle factories. They work in dark cells without air and light.
Mukesh’s grandfather had gone blind with the dust from polishing the glass of bangles.
The author asks him if he dreams of flying an aeroplane. He says ‘no’ and he is content to dream of cars.
Very Short Type Q-Ans.
1. Who is the writer of the extract ‘Lost Spring’?
Ans. Anees Jung
2. Who is Saheb?
Ans. A ragpicker
3. From where did Saheb come?
Ans. From Dhaka (Bangladesh)
4. What is Saheb’s full name?
Ans. Saheb-e-Alam
5. What is the meaning of ‘Saheb-e-Alam?
Ans. Lord of the universe
6. Did Saheb know the meaning of his name?
Ans. No
7. By what was Saheb’s home and green fields destroyed?
Ans. By many storms
8. Where does Saheb live?
Ans. Seemapuri (New Delhi)
9. Where is Seemapuri situated?
Ans. On the periphery of Delhi
10. How many ragpickers lived in Seemapuri?
Ans. About 10,000
11. What is gold to the ragpickers?
Ans. Garbage
12. What does a heap of garbage stand for the children’s parents?
Ans. A means of survival
13. Where has the narrator seen children walking barefoot?
Ans. In cities and on village roads
14. What game was Saheb watching one day?
Ans. Tennis
15. Why did some rich boy discard the shoes?
Ans. Because there was a hole in it
16. Where does Saheb work after leaving the work of being a ragpicker?
Ans. In a tea stall
17. What did the priest’s son pray for?
Ans. A pair of boots
18. Where does Mukesh's family work?
Ans. In a bangle factory
19. Where does Mukesh live?
Ans. In Firozabad
20. What does the writer say about the street in which Mukesh’s house is situated?
Ans. There is a stinking lane, choked with garbage
21. What is Firozabad famous for?
Ans. For bangles
22. What is illegal for children?
Ans. To work in the bangles factory with high temperature
23. What does Mukesh want to become?
Ans. A motor mechanic
24. Who is Savita?
Ans. A young girl
25. What do bangles symbolize in Indian culture?
Ans. An Indian woman’s Suhaag
26. What is Savita wearing?
Ans. A pink sari
27. What job is Savita doing?
Ans. Soldering pieces of glass
Textual Questions
1. Who is Saheb? What was his full name? What was the irony about his name?
Ans. Saheb is a ragpicker. His full name is Saheb-e-Alam. It means lord of the universe. But the poor boy does not even have shoes to wear. He earns his living by scrounging the dumps of garbage. Thus there was deep irony about his name.
2. What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he come from?
Ans. Saheb is a ragpicker. He scrounges the garbage dumps for bits of paper, rags, plastic items, etc. These are gold for him. He makes his living by selling these things. He is living in Seemapuri (Delhi). He has come from Dhaka (Bangladesh)
3. How does the author describe the area of Seemapuri?
Ans. The ragpickers of Seemapuri live in dirty conditions on the periphery of Delhi. Those who live here are Bangladeshis. They lead a life of misery and poverty. They came here in 1971 from Bangladesh. Their houses are made of mud, tin and tarpaulin. They all are ragpickers. There is no sewerage or draining system.
4. What was Saheb wearing one morning? Where did he get it?
Ans. Saheb was wearing tennis shoes which were given by a rich boy; because there was a hole in the shoes. For Saheb who had walked barefoot, even these shoes were a dream come true.
5. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain.
Ans. No, Saheb is not happy there. Saheb has left rag-picking and is now working at a tea-stall. He gets Rs. 800 and meals. But he is no longer his own master. Because now he is working for another master.
6. Who was Mukesh? What was his aim in life?
Ans. Mukesh belonged to a family of bangle makers in Firozabad. He was one of the 20,000 young people who were engaged in bangle-making. He did not like the life of a bangle maker. He wanted to be a motor mechanic. He dreams of driving a car one day.
7. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
Ans. Firozabad is famous for its bangle industry. Every family here is engaged in making bangles. It is the centre of India's glass blowing industry. It makes bangles for all the women of the land.
8. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
Ans. Workers have to work in very high temperatures in the glass bangles industry. They work in dark cells without air and light. They don’t get any daylight. Thus, they lose the brightness of their eyes. The dust from polishing the glass bangles makes the bangle makers blind.
9. Who is Savita? What is she doing? What does the writer wonder about?
Ans. Savita is a young girl. She is soldering pieces of glass. Her hands are moving mechanically. The writer wonders if she knows the sanctity of the bangles she is making. They symbolize an Indian woman’s Suhaag.
10. Why can't the bangle-makers organize into a co-operative?
Ans. They are trapped in a vicious circle of middlemen, policemen, keepers of law, bureaucrats, and politicians. If they try to organize, they are hauled up (beaten) by the police.
Essay Type Q-Ans.
1. Reproduce briefly the story related to the man from Udipi?
Ans. The writer once met a man from Udipi. The man said that as a young boy, he would go to school past an old temple. His father was a priest at that temple. The boy would stop briefly at the temple. He would pray to the goddess for a pair of shoes. The boy finally got a pair of shoes. The boy prayed, “Let me never lose them.” The goddess granted his prayer.
The writer says that she visited the town again after thirty years. She went to the temple. She saw that the temple had a new priest now. The new priest’s son was wearing a grey uniform. He was also wearing socks and shoes. The writer remembered the prayer of another boy. She saw that the boy like the son of the priest now wore shoes. But many others like the ragpickers in her neighbourhood were still shoeless.
2. Who is Mukesh? What is his ambition? Describe the author’s visit to the house of Mukesh.
Ans. Mukesh belongs to a poor family of bangle makers in Firozabad. He does not like the life of a bangle maker. His ambition is to become a motor mechanic. He dreams of driving a car. His house is being rebuilt. He feels very proud of it and offers to take the writer to his house. When the writer goes there, she sees that it is a slum area. There is a stinking lane, which is choked with garbage. Mukesh’s house is like a half built shack. In one part of it, there is firewood stove. It has a large vessel on it. A frail young woman is cooking the evening meals. She is the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother. Mukesh’s father is a poor bangle maker. Even after long years of hard labour, he has failed to renovate his house. He could not send his two sons to school. He could just teach them the art of bangle making. Mukesh’s grandmother is also there. Her husband has gone blind with dust from the polishing of glass bangles. She calls it his Karma.
Q.3. What is ironical about Saheb’s name? Describe the life of Saheb and the life of the other ragpickers of Seemapuri.
Ans. Saheb is a poor ragpicker. He is one of the ragpickers of Seemapuri. They have been living on the periphery of Delhi. Saheb’s full name is ‘Saheb-e-Alam’ which means ‘Lord of the Universe’. This is highly ironical. He does not know what the meaning of his name is. He leads a very poor and miserable life. He moves barefoot as he has no money to buy shoes. He earns his living by scrounging garbage dumps.
Saheb and the other ragpickers of Seemapuri lead a miserable and poor life. They live in dingy huts made of mud with roofs of tin. They live amidst dirty and unhygienic surroundings. There is no sewerage, no drainage and no running water in their colony. There is no development and no progress. For these poor people survival means rag-picking. For these poor children, garbage is gold for them. It is the source of their living.
Important Spellings & word-meanings
Spellings
Scrounging
Embarrassed
Shuffles
Tradition
Perpetual
Ragpickers
Desolation
Acquaintance
Periphery
Squatters
Survival
Proportion
Impoverished
Achieve
Bureaucrats
Word-meanings
Garbage – rubbish, waste material,
Scrounging – searching for something
Dumps – heaps
Swept away – washed away
Embarrassed – uncomfortable
Bleak – dark, desolate
Roams – wanders
Shuffles – keeps shifting
Tradition – custom
Wonder – surprise
Perpetual – never ending, endless
Desolation – ruin, gloom, unhappiness
Panting – breathing heavily
Periphery – border, boundary
Aching – paining
Survival – living
Tattered – torn to pieces
Transit – passing, temporary
Proportions – dimensions, size
Discarded – given up
Mirage – false appearance
Dingy – dark and dirty
Slog – toil, labour, hard work
Hearth – furnace
Volunteers – offers himself for service
Wobbly – unstable
Renovate – repair
Impoverished – very poor
Trapped – cheated
Apathy – indifference
Stigma – mark of disgrace
Hurtling – clattering