Introduction (Background of the Unit):

Anees Jung (1964) was born in Rourkela and spent her childhood and adolescence in Hyderabad. She received her education in Hyderabad and in the United States of America. She is an Indian author, journalist and columnist for newspapers in India and abroad, whose most known work is  Unveiling India (1987). Other books by Jung include When a place becomes a person (1977) and The Song of India (1990). ‘Lost Spring’ is an excerpt from her book titled ‘Stories of Stolen Childhood’. Here she analyses the grinding poverty and traditions which condemn these children to a life of exploitation. 

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Line by Line Explanation 

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‘Sometimes I find a Rupee in the garbage’ 
“Why do you do this?” I ask Saheb whom I encounter every morning scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps of my neighbourhood. Saheb left his home long ago. Set amidst the green fields of Dhaka, his home is not even a distant memory. There were many storms that swept away their fields and homes, his mother tells him. That’s why they left, looking for gold in the big city where he now lives. “I have nothing else to do,” he mutters, looking away.
 

Word meaning: 

• scrounging:  Searching 

• dump: heap

• amidst: in the middle of 

• Dhaka: Capital of Bangladesh 

• Swept away: p.t- Sweep away 

• Mutters: speak something in a low tone

Explanation:
The story begins with the writer’s conversation with the rag pickers of a place called Seemapuri which is just in outskirts of  Delhi. A boy says that he sometimes find a rupee in the garbage which signifies that the boy is always optimistic of getting money in the garbage and this optimism is a guiding force for this searching. The inquisitive narrator asks him the reason for doing this work of rag picking and he replies that he does this because he has nothing else to do. We are also informed about Saheb who lived in Dhaka and had to migrate because his house and fields were swept away due to storm. 

*******

“Go to school,” I say glibly, realising immediately how hollow the advice must sound. “There is no school in my neighbourhood. When they build one, I will go.”
 “If I start a school, will you come?” I ask, half-joking. “Yes,” he says, smiling broadly. A few days later I see him running up to me. “Is your school ready?” “It takes longer to build a school,” I say, embarrassed at having made a promise that was not meant. But promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak world.
Word meanings: 

• Glibly : in a way that is confident, but is too simple and lacks careful thought 

• Hollow: without real significance or value

• Embarrassed: cause (someone) to feel awkward, self-conscious, or ashamed

• Abound: exist in large numbers or amounts

• Bleak: dark, not hopeful or encouraging

Explanation: 
The narrator thoughtlessly advises Saheb to go to school but she immediately realises that this advice is without any value. Saheb replies that there is no school in his neighbourhood when the school is built he will go there. The narrator jokingly asks him if she started a school will he come there. Saheb is very happy about it.
Saheb when sees the narrator after many days comes running to him. He asks the narrator if the school was ready or not. The narrator feels awkward for making a fake promise.  

*******

After months of knowing him, I ask him his name. “Saheb-e-Alam,” he announces. He does not know what it means. If he knew its meaning — lord of the universe — he would have a hard time believing it. Unaware of what his name represents, he roams the streets with his friends, an army of barefoot boys who appear like the morning birds and disappear at noon. Over the months, I have come to recognise each of them.

 Word meanings:

• Hard time: a period of difficulties or hardship

• Roam: to go from place to place without purpose or direction

• barefoot – wearing nothing in the feet

  

Explanation:

After knowing Saheb for a long period of time the narrator comes to know that the real name of Saheb is “Saheb-e-Alam which means ‘Lord of the Universe’. The narrator thinks that it would be difficult for him to believe that his name meant ‘the Lord of the Universe’. Saheb does not know the meaning of his name and he wanders with the group of boys who do not wear shoes. They come out in the morning like a bird and go back to their huts in the afternoon. 

                                                                                            *******

“Why aren’t you wearing chappals?” I ask one. “My mother did not bring them down from the shelf,” he answers simply. “Even if she did he will throw them off,” adds another who is wearing shoes that do not match. When I comment on it, he shuffles his feet and says nothing. “I want shoes,” says a third boy who has never owned a pair all his life. Travelling across the country I have seen children walking barefoot, in cities, on village roads. It is not lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot, is one explanation. I wonder if this is only an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty.
Word meaning: 

• Shuffles : to put or thrust aside or under cover Fright: fear

• Perpetual: continuing forever

• Excuse - a reason to justify a fault

Explanation:
The narrator asks the reason for not wearing chappals. One of the boy replies that his mother did not bring them down from the shelf. One boy who is wearing different kinds of shoes adds that even if the mother had given him he might have thrown them because he has become habitual of not wearing the chappals. Another boy had a small desire to own a pair of shoes as he has never been able to do so. The narrator concludes that the reason why children don’t wear shoes is not due to  tradition but because of everlasting poverty.   

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I remember a story a man from Udipi once told me. As a young boy he would go to school past an old temple, where his father was a priest. He would stop briefly at the temple and pray for a pair of shoes. Thirty years later I visited his town and the temple, which was now drowned in an air of desolation. In the backyard, where lived the new priest, there were red and white plastic chairs. A young boy dressed in a grey uniform, wearing socks and shoes, arrived panting and threw his school bag on a folding bed. Looking at the boy, I remembered the prayer another boy had made to the goddess when he had finally got a pair of shoes, “Let me never lose them.” The goddess had granted his prayer. Young boys like the son of the priest now wore shoes. But many others like the rag pickers in my neighbourhood remains shoeless.
Word meaning:

• Udipi: Udupi is a city in the southwest Indian state of Karnataka

• Past : at the farther side of

• Panting - taking short and quick breathes

• Desolation: a state of complete emptiness or destruction

Explanation: 
The narrator now narrates a story which was told by a man from Udipi whose father was a priest in a temple. The man before going to the school used to pray God for a pair of shoes. Few years after that the narrator visits the same temple which is in desolation and other priest lives there. She sees the condition of the temple and the priest who lives there. She finds out that there were plastic chairs and the son of that priest was in school uniform wearing the shoes. The narrator implies that the condition of the priest and his family has improved but the rag pickers are still in poverty and misery.
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My acquaintance with the barefoot ragpickers leads me to Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically. Those who live here are squatters who came from Bangladesh back in 1971. Saheb’s family is among them. Seemapuri was then a wilderness. It still is, but it is no longer empty. In structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or running water, live 10,000 ragpickers. 

Word meanings:

• Acquaintance: a person one knows slightly, but who is not a close friend

• Metaphorically: 

• Periphery: the outer limits or edge of an area or object

• Squatters: a person who unlawfully occupies an uninhabited building or unused land

• Wilderness: a neglected or abandoned area

• Tarpaulin- heavy-duty waterproof cloth

Explanation: 
The writer now describes the living condition of the place; Seemapuri, where these ragpickers live. Seemapuri is in the outskirts of Delhi (which is national Capital) so it is expected to be developed with all the facilities. Sadly it is miles away from there, not in the term of distance but facilities. Most of the people who live here are those who have migrated from Bangladesh in 1971. When they came here Seemapuri was barren and neglected and is still in the same condition now. Their surrounding is devoid of basic facilities like drainage, sewage and running water. 
                                                                                        *******

They have lived here for more than thirty years without an identity, without permits but with ration cards that get their names on voters’ lists and enable them to buy grain. Food is more important for survival than an identity. “If at the end of the day we can feed our families and go to bed without an aching stomach, we would rather live here than in the fields that gave us no grain,” say a group of women in tattered saris when I ask them why they left their beautiful land of green fields and rivers. Wherever they find food, they pitch their tents that become transit homes. Children grow up in them, becoming partners in survival. And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art. Garbage to them is gold. It is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. But for a child it is even more.
Word meanings:

• Aching stomach: painful stomach 

• Tattered : old and torn; in poor condition

• Proportions : a part, share, or number considered in comparative relation to a whole

• Transit: temporary 

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Explanation: 
These ragpickers have lived in Seemapuri for more than 30 years. They have not got their permit but they have got their ration card through which they have got their names on the voters list so they are able to get food.  They believe that food is more important than identity.  These rag pickers are able to get food in Seemapuri and that's why they have made their home here.  The condition of the clothes of a women is very bad,  when the narrator asked this woman why they had migrated here. This woman replies that they are able to get food here and because of that they have made the temporary home. There is no other work in Seemapuri and because of that they are forced to do the work of a ragpicker.  Ragpicking has become a fine art for them. Garbage for them is gold or in other words we can say that it is as important as gold. Through this garbage only they get their bread and shelter. The garbage is full of curiosity so  it is more than a source bread and butter for a child.

 *******

“I sometimes find a rupee, even a ten-rupee note,” Saheb says, his eyes lighting up. When you can find a silver coin in a heap of garbage, you don’t stop scrounging, for there is hope of finding more. It seems that for children, garbage has a meaning different from what it means to their parents. For the children it is wrapped in wonder, for the elders it is a means of survival. 
Word meaning:

• Wrapped : covered 

Explanation 
Saheb tells the narrator that sometimes he finds a rupee note in th garbage and when you find something like money or silver in it you keep searching for more of such things. The garbage has a different meaning for both children and parents. For parents it is a mean of survival whereas for children it is wrapped in wonder.
                                                                              *******

One winter morning I see Saheb standing by the fenced gate of the neighbourhood
club, watching two young men dressed in white, playing tennis. “I like the game,” he hums, content to watch it standing behind the fence. “I go inside when no one is around,” he admits. “The gatekeeper lets me use the swing.”
Word meaning:

• Hums: speaks in low tone

• Content : satisfied 

Explanation:
This paragraph reflects an incident that shows miserable condition of Saheb.  She sees Saheb watching the game of tennis outside a club. He is satisfied watching it as he likes it. He tells the narrator that he goes inside when no one is there and uses the swing.

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Saheb too is wearing tennis shoes that look strange over his discoloured shirt and shorts. “Someone gave them to me,” he says in the manner of an explanation. The fact that they are discarded shoes of some rich boy, who perhaps refused to wear them because of a hole in one of them, does not bother him. For one who has walked barefoot, even shoes with a hole is a dream come true. But the game he is watching so intently is out of his reach.

Word Meaning:

• Strange: unusual or surprising; difficult to understand or explain

• Discarded: get rid of (someone or something) as no longer useful or desirable

Explanation: 
Saheb is  wearing shoes that looks unusual on his dirty rags. Saheb tells the narrator that they were given by someone. Some rich boy might have denied wearing the shoes with a hole. Saheb has never worn shoes in his life so it was a dream come true. He might be able to wear the discarded shoes but he will never be able to play the game.  

 *******

This morning, Saheb is on his way to the milk booth. In his hand is a steel canister. “I now work in a tea stall down the road,” he says, pointing in the distance. “I am paid 800 rupees and all my meals.” Does he like the job? I ask. His face, I see, has lost the carefree look. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly” over his shoulder. The bag was his. The canister belongs to the man who owns the tea shop. Saheb is no longer his own master!
Word Meaning:

• Canister : a round or cylindrical container

Explanation:
One day the narrator meets Saheb who is going towards a milk booth. He was holding a steel canister in his hand. Saheb tells the narrator that he is working in a tea stall now. He also tells the narrator that he is getting 800 rupees as his wage and food. The narrator thinks that Saheb is not happy working in the tea stall as he has lost his care free look. He was the master of his own trade when he was working as a rag picker but now he has to work under the owner of the tea stall.

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“I want to drive a car”
                                                                                     

Mukesh insists on being his own master. “I will be a motor mechanic,” he announces. “Do you know anything about cars?” I ask. “I will learn to drive a car,” he answers, looking straight into my eyes. His dream looms like a mirage amidst the dust of streets that fill his town Firozabad, famous for its 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 all the women in the land it seems. 
Word Meaning: 

• Loom : appear as a vague form

• Mirage: an optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions, especially the appearance of a sheet of water in a desert or on a hot road

• Furnaces: fireplace, kiln

Explanation: 
The story begins with a boy named Mukesh. Mukesh insists on being his own master and wants to be a Motor Mechanic.  The writer is curious to know if he knew anything about repairing cars. Mukesh is confident that he will learn to drive a car but seeing the place and the condition where he lives the narrator thinks that it is a mirage for him. Mukesh lives in Firozabad. Most of the families in Firozabad are engaged with bangle making industry. Firozabad  is the epicenter of India's glass blowing industry where the families have spent so many  years around the furnaces  making the bangles. 

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Mukesh’s family is among them. None of them know that it is illegal for children like him to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells without air and light; that the law, if enforced, could get him and all those 20,000 children out of the hot furnaces where they slog their daylight hours, often losing the brightness of their eyes. Mukesh’s eyes beam as he volunteers to take me home, which he proudly says is being rebuilt.
Word meaning:

• Illegal: against  law

• Dingy:   gloomy and drab

• Slog: work hard over a period of time

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Explanation: 
Mukesh's family is also one of the families who has worked in the bangle making industry for generations. They do not know that it is illegal to send their children to work in the glass furnaces. The glass furnaces are dark, dirty and with high temperature. 20000 children are working in these factories and if laws are properly enforced and followed, the lives of these children can be saved. The children have to work throughout  the day in the dark furnaces with high temperature. Mukesh volunteers to take the narrator to his  home. He  also informs the narrator that his house is being rebuilt now. 

*******

We walk down stinking lanes choked with garbage, past homes that remain hovels with crumbling walls, wobbly doors, no windows, crowded with families of humans and animals coexisting in a primeval state. He stops at the door of one such house, bangs a wobbly iron door with his foot, and pushes it open. We enter a half-built shack. In one part of it, thatched with dead grass, is a firewood stove over which sits a large vessel of sizzling spinach leaves. On the ground, in large aluminium platters, are more chopped vegetables.  
Word meaning:

• Stinking: foul-smelling

• Hovels: a small squalid or simply constructed dwelling.

• Crumbling: breaking or falling apart into small fragments, especially as part of a process of deterioration

• Wobbly: tending to move unsteadily from side to side

• Primeval: of the earliest time in history

• Thatched: cover (a roof or a building) with straw or a similar material

• Shack : a roughly built hut or cabin

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Explanation:
Mukesh takes the narrator to his home. The place where he was living was a slum with stinking lanes chocked with garbage. The walls were falling apart and the doors were damaged. Many people lived together with the animals. This  reminded the writer of the prehistoric man who lived just like animals. Mukesh stopped in front of one such door, hit it hard with his foot and pushed it open. The food was being cooked in a thatched room. 

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A frail young woman is cooking the evening meal for the whole family. Through eyes filled with smoke she smiles. She is the wife of  Mukesh’s elder brother. Not much older in years, she has begun to command respect as the bahu, the daughter-in law of the house, already in charge of three men — her husband, Mukesh and their father. When the older man enters, she gently withdraws behind the broken wall and brings her veil closer to her face. As custom demands, daughters-in-law must veil their faces before male elders. In this case the elder is an impoverished bangle maker. Despite long years of hard labour, first as a tailor, then a bangle maker, he has failed to renovate a house, send his two sons to school. All he has managed to do is teach them what he knows — the art of making bangles.
Word meaning:

• Frail : thin and delicate

• Veil: cover

• Impoverished: poor, deprived of strength or vitality 

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Explanation:
A thin looking woman is preparing dinner for the family when Mukesh and the narrator reach Mukesh’s home. She is Mukesh’s brother’s wife. Though she is not so old, she has got the name and respect of being a Bahu of the family. She is shouldered with responsibility of taking care of three men of the family, Mukesh, his brother and their father. When Mukesh’s father enters in the house she veils here face and withdraws aside as it is the custom of the society. Mukesh’s father is an old man without vitality and vigour. He has done different works like tailor and a bangle maker still has remained poor. He has not even been able to build/renovate  a house or send his children to school. The only thing he was able to do in his life was teaching this art of making bangles to his children. 

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   “It is his karam, his destiny,” says Mukesh’s grandmother, who has watched her own husband go blind with the dust from polishing the glass of bangles. “Can a god-given lineage ever be broken?” she implies. Born in the caste of bangle makers, they have seen nothing but bangles — in the house, in the yard, in every other house, every other yard, every street in Firozabad. Spirals of bangles —sunny gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink, purple, every colour born out of the seven colours of the rainbow — lie in mounds in unkempt yards, are piled on four-wheeled handcarts, pushed by young men along the narrow lanes of the shanty town. And in dark hutments, next to lines of flames of flickering oil lamps, sit boys and girls with their fathers and mothers, welding pieces of coloured glass into circles of bangles. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. That is why they often end up losing their eyesight before they become adults
Word meaning:

• Karam- Karma

• Lineage: direct descent from an ancestor; ancestry or pedigree

• Spirals:  a spiral curve, shape, pattern, or object

• Mounds: heaps

• Unkempt: having an untidy or dishevelled appearance

• Shanty: a small, crudely built shack

 

Explanation:
The people in Firozabad are orthodox who think that it is the destiny of the people of  Firozabad that they are born in the family of bangle makers and that’s why they have to work here. Mukesh’s grandfather had become blind working in the bangle making industry still his grand mother thinks that the god given linage can not be broken and they have to do the work which their forefathers have been doing. 
The writer then describes the condition of Firozabad where everywhere you may see the bangles of different colours. There are heaps of bangles all around. In small hutments the children along with their parents weld the pieces of coloured glass and make bangles. Their eyes are more adjusted to darkness because they have to work in the light of flickering lamps and as a result they end up losing their eyesight at an early age. 

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Savita, a young girl in a drab pink dress, sits alongside an elderly woman, soldering pieces of glass. As her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine, I wonder if she knows the sanctity of the bangles she helps make. It symbolises an Indian woman’s suhaag, auspiciousness in marriage. It will dawn on her suddenly one day when her head is draped with a red veil, her hands dyed red with henna, and red bangles rolled onto her wrists. She will then become a bride. Like the old woman beside her who became one many years ago. She still has bangles on her wrist, but no light in her eyes. “Ek waqt ser bhar khana bhi nahin khaya,” she says, in a voice drained of joy. She has not enjoyed even one full meal in her entire lifetime — that’s what she has reaped! Her husband, an old man with a flowing beard, says, “I know nothing except bangles. All I have done is make a house for the family to live in.”

Word meaning:

• Drab: dull, dreary 

• Sanctity: the state or quality of being holy, sacred, or saintly.

• Auspiciousness: promising success; propitious; opportune; favourable

• Drape: arrange (cloth or clothing) loosely or casually on or round something

• Drained: deprive of strength

• Reap: receive (something, especially something beneficial) as a consequence of one's own or another's actions.

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Explanation:
The writer shares the story of a girl named Savita who is in a dull pink dress and working with bangles along an elderly woman. Savita does not know the sanctity of bangles. The bangles in India are symbol of auspiciousness and being married. One day Savita will also be covered in red sari and her hands will be dyed red with henna. She will also get married like the elderly woman sitting beside her. There are colourful bangles on her wrist but no light in her eyes.  She complains that she has never eaten a single full meal in her life and this is the achievement of her life. Her husband is also sour of his achievement and says that he knows nothing except making bangles and this house in which his family lives is the only achievement of his life. 

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Hearing him, one wonders if he has achieved what many have failed in their lifetime. He has a roof over his head! The cry of not having money to do anything except carry on the business of making bangles, not even enough to eat, rings in every home. The young men echo the lament of their elders. Little has moved with time, it seems, in Firozabad. Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and the ability to dream.
Word meaning:

• Lament : a passionate expression of grief or sorrow

• Mind-numbing : so extreme or intense as to prevent normal thought

• Initiative: the ability to assess and initiate things independently

Explanation:
There are many people who have even not been able to make a roof over their head working in the bangle industry. The people complain about the lack of money, food and jobs. The youngsters complain about their elders who did not do anything for them.  Nothing has changed after many years. People have worked in the extreme conditions and so they have lost their ability to dream. 
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“Why not organise yourselves into a cooperative?” I ask a group of young men who have fallen into the vicious circle of middlemen who trapped their fathers and forefathers. “Even if we get organised, we are the ones who will be hauled up by the police, beaten and dragged to jail for doing something illegal,” they say. There is no leader among them, no one who could help them see things differently. Their fathers are as tired as they are. They talk endlessly in a spiral that moves from poverty to apathy to greed and to injustice.
Word meaning:

• Vicious: deliberately cruel or violent

• Hauled: pull or drag with effort or force

• Apathy: lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern

Explanation:
The writes asks them possibility of getting organised and making a cooperative society but she gets the answer that even if they make a cooperative society they will be caught by police and taken to jail for doing something illegal. It is impossible to come out of this vicious circle of middleman  in which their fathers and forefathers were trapped. Neither the politicians nor the government is doing anything for the good of these people.  

 ********

Listening to them, I see two distinct worlds — one of the family, caught in a 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. Together they have imposed the baggage on the child that he cannot put down. Before he is aware, he accepts it as naturally as his father. To do anything else would mean to dare.
Word meaning:

• Distinct: different in nature from something else of a similar type

• Stigma: a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person

Explanation:
The writer now envisions two different worlds- one is of the poverty stricken people who are over burdened by the disgrace of caste in which they are born and forced to do a certain type of work. The other world is of the politicians, sahukars, middleman, bureaucrats and policeman who are negligent towards the condition of these people.  Together these people have been forced to do this work and before they can understand and try to come out of this situation they become a permanent part of it.  They lack opportunity so doing something except making bangles is type of challenge for them.

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And daring is not part of his growing up. When I sense a flash of it in Mukesh I am cheered. “I want to be a motor mechanic,’ he repeats. He will go to a garage and learn. But the garage is a long way from his home. “I will walk,” he insists. “Do you also dream of flying a plane?” He is suddenly silent. “No,” he says, staring at the ground. In his small murmur there is an embarrassment that has not yet turned into regret. He is content to dream of cars that he sees hurtling down the streets of his town. Few airplanes fly over Firozabad.
Word meaning:

• Insist: demand something forcefully, not accepting refusal

• Murmur: a low continuous background noise

• Content: satisfied 

Explanation:
 Though accepting a challenge has not been a part of upbringing of these children of Firozabad. The writer notices a flash of it in Mukesh when he tells her that he wants to be a motor mechanic.  Though the garage is far away from there he is quite firm to walk there and learn it. The narrator jokingly asks him if he wanted to fly an aeroplane. Mukesh is embarrassed to deny. The aeroplane flies over Firozabad. 

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Summary (Quick Revision Notes):

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1.    Author's meets Saheb for the first time
       a)    His background and origin from Bangladesh
       b)    Inquire about not going school 
       c)    Promise to open a school
       d)    Felt embarrassed when Saheb ask about school 

2.    Saheb and his background
       a)    From the green fields of Dhaka
       b)    Migrated because fiends swept away 
       c)    Came here in the search of food and shelter
       d)     'Saheb-e-Alam' meaning 'lord of the universe

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3.    Extreme state of poverty
       a)    Does not wear chappals
       b)    Reasons for it
       c)    Extreme poverty or the tradition 

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4.    Example of a man from Udipi
       a)    A priest bare foot son in town of Udipi thirty years ago.
       b)    Desire for a pair of shoes
       c)    Thirty year later -full school dress with shoes
       d)    The condition of the ragpickers is still the same.

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5.    Seemapuri metaphorically far away from  of Delhi
       a)    Structures of mud, tin and tarpaulin
       b)     No sewage drainage or running water
       c)    People live here for ration card to get grain
       d)    Rag picking is the only mean of survival
       e)    Garbage gold for them

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6.    Saheb's desires for childhood
       a)    Saheb wearing torn tennis shoes
       b)    Wishes to play tennis 
       c)    Watches Rich boys playing Tennis

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7.    Saheb's new job
       a)    Started working in a tea stall 
       b)    Earlier he was his own master 
       c)    Earns only 800 Rs. 
       d)    Steel canister is heavier than the rag picker’s bag
       e)    No more care free looks

8.    Story of Mukesh- who lives in Firozabad   
       a)    Works in a bangle making factory
       b)    His desire to be a motor mechanic
       c)    The families engaged in the industry for generations

9.    Working condition in glass furnaces
        a)    High temperature, Dingy and darks rooms 
        b)    Children lose eye sight at an early age
        c)    More than 20k children work here

10.     Mukesh takes narrator to his home
        a)    Stinking lanes, crumbling walls, wobbly doors
        b)    Humans and animals co-exist
        c)    Mukesh; house half built
        d)    His Bhabhi is cooking in the thatched  kitchen 
        e)    In charge-bahu of the family 
        f)    Description of the condition of Mukesh’s family

11.    Working in glass factory as  a lineage 
        a)    Result of Karma – his destiny
        b)    Her husband blind due to working in glass factory 
        c)    Their work decided by their birth

12.     Hazards of working in a glass factory 
       a)     Entire city is surrounded by pieces of glass and bangles 

       b)    Children  have to work in high temperature 
       c)    Less light – Blind at young age
       d)    Dust particles of glass 
13.    Example of Savita and many others like her 
       a)    Savita a young girl making bangles 
       b)    Symbol of marriage and suhaag
       c)    Every girl child one day as bride will wear bangles.
       d)    Woman beside her- not a single meal in her entire life
14.     Vicious circle of poverty  
       a)    Cant form a co-operative society 
       b)    Shahukaars, Middle man, police 
       c)    From poverty to apathy to greed to injustice
15.     Dreams of Mukesh 
       a)    To be motor mechanic
       b)    Will go to garage and learn 
       c)    Garage far away like his dreams
 

Textual Question-Answers Solutions: 

Think as you Read-
 

1. What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he come from?
Ans. Saheb is looking for gold in the garbage. Gold here is used as a symbol of some important things like money or the things which he can sell and earn money. Saheb is in Seemapuri now which is in outskirts of Delhi. He has come from the green fields of Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?

Ans. The writer gives an explanation that these children do not wear the footwear because it is tradition to remain barefoot in their families. As a matter of fact they can’t afford the footwear and have become habitual of remaining without shoes. 

3.  Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain 
Ans. Saheb is not happy working in the tea stall. We can infer this from his look which has lost its carefreeness. Saheb was the master of his own trade when he was working as a rag picker but now he has to work under the owner of tea stall that’s why the writer says that the steel canister seems heavy to him.  

 
4. What makes the city of Firozabad famous? 
Ans.  The city of Firozabad is famous for its glass blowing factory.  

5. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
Ans. The people  working in glass bangle factories have to work in low light and high temperature. They have to work in flickering light and their eyes are more used to with darkness than light so they lose their eyesight at an early age. Small particles of glass go in their lungs so they suffer from lung disease too. 

6. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
Ans. Mukesh’s family believes in following the God given linage and work in bangle making industry. Mukesh thinks differently and wants to become a motor mechanic and drive a car. Unlike his family members he dares to dream to come out of his grim situation. 

Understanding the text-
1.    What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?
Ans. People migrate from one place to another for different reasons. According to the reasons given in the unit people migrated due to natural calamities like storm and in search of jobs. Another reasons may be the search of work, good living standard or getting good education. 

2.    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?
Ans. Yes, I think that the promise made to the poor children are rarely kept. The children are given different promises by the politicians and bureaucrats.  This generally happens because the people who give these promises never intend to fulfil it and think that they will forget it as the time passes.  This also happens because the people who are given promises are helpless and can’t do anything. They are unaware of their rights and responsibilities.

 
3.     What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?
Ans. The bangle makers of Firozabad are forced to be in the industry due to different reasons. They are born in poverty and the society believes that the people born in certain caste are supposed to do a certain type of work. They cannot break the God given linage.  The middleman, politicians, bureaucratese, etc. conspires to keep these workers in the bangle making industry. The laws are neither followed nor respected in this industry.  

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Talking about the text-

1.    How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream?
Ans. Though it seems difficult for Mukesh to come out of the situation and the type of life he is living, it is not completely impossible. Mukesh can realise his dream if he makes proper planning and stick to his ambition. He aims to break the God given linage by becoming a motor mechanic. He can realise his dream of driving a car if he migrates from the place where he is living. He may first work in a garage nearby and learn driving at the same time and get what he desires.     

2.     Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
Ans. The people  working in glass bangle factories have to work in low light and high temperature. They have to work in flickering light and their eyes are more used to with darkness than light so they lose their eyesight at an early age. Small particles of glass go in their lungs so they suffer from lung disease too. 

3.    Why should child labour be eliminated and how?
Ans. Childhood is the spring of life where they can bloom to the fullest. How will a flower bloom if it is nip in the bud. The children who are forced to work in bangle making factories are unable to get education and enjoy their childhood. If the youth of India is uneducated and exploited the country will never be able to develop.  
 

 

Appropriateness of the Title:
a)    Spring is the time when the flowers and trees can bloom
b)    Childhood is also the spring of life
c)    The childhood of the children of Seemapuri and Firozabad is taken away or lost 
d)    As a result they can’t bloom in their youth