NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 2 Lost Spring

What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
Firozabad was founded by Firoze Shah Tughlaq. The famous city Agra is just 37kms away. Firozabad is famous for bangles and glassware products. The work of bangles in Firozabad is about 200 years old. With which the livelihood of most of the people is related. Even today, bangles are made by hand in the old way and colorful colors are filled in them by hand. Firozabad is also known as “SuhaagNagri” because manufacturing of bangles for entire country is done from here.

Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
Working in glass bangles industry is extremely hazardous for both children as well as for adults. The furnaces they work in have extremely high temperature and lack of proper ventilation. Persistently working in low light conditions without any protective eye gear leaves them blind. Even burns and cuts are quite common. The workers are quite prone to ailments such as lung cancer. Thus, the surroundings, prevailing conditions and the type of job involved-all prove risky to the health of the workers.

How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
Mukesh’s future planning was different from his family members and from rest of the city who were involved in carrying on the tradition of carrying forward their family business since generations. A city where everyone considers this work to be a God’s blessing or life’s destiny and wants to take it forward, Mukesh however thinks in contrast to his family. He wants to make his future as a car mechanic and is ready to walk any distance to learn this job.

Although this text speaks of factual events and situations of misery it transforms these situations with an almost poetical prose into a literary experience. How does it do so? Here are some literary devices:
• Hyperbole is a way of speaking or writing that makes something sound better or more exciting than it really is. For example: Garbage to them is gold.
• A Metaphor, as you may know, compares two things or ideas that are not very similar. A metaphor describes a thing in terms of a single quality or feature of some other thing; we can say that a metaphor “transfers” a quality of one thing to another. For example: The road was a ribbon of light.
• Simile is a word or phrase that compares one thing with another using the words “like” or “as”. For example: As white as snow.
Carefully read the following phrases and sentences taken from the text. Can you identify the literary device in each example?
1. Saheb-e-Alam which means the lord of the universe is directly in contrast to what Saheb is in reality.
2. Drowned in an air of desolation.
3. Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically.
4. For the children it is wrapped in wonder; for the elders it is a means of survival.
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.
6. She still has bangles on her wrist, but not light in her eyes.
7. Few airplanes fly over Firozabad.
8. Web of poverty.
9. Scrounging for gold
10. And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art.
11. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulders.
Answer:

• 1. Irony.
• 2. Metaphor.
• 3. Contrast
• 4. Contrast
• 5. Simile
• 6. Contrast
• 7. Hyperbole
• 8. Metaphor
• 9. Metaphor
• 10. Hyperbole
• 11. Contrast

1. Who was Saheb? How does he meet author Anees?
   Saheb was from a poor Bangladeshi family who had taken refuge in India due to natural disaster in his country. He was a rag picker because he had neither work nor purpose in life.
   Anees used to find Sahib in morning while searching for something in the garbage heap in her neighborhood. She took pity on his pitiable condition.
2. Why author ask this question “why do you do this” after seeing this Saheb for the first time?
   She asked this because she felt very sad for Saheb while he was searching for something in the garbage. She felt what a small child was doing in the dirt at the age of studies and sports. It was her way to start conversation with him as she wanted to know more about him. It was easy for her to see elders doing rag picking but not a child.
3. What did Saheb search everyday in the garbage?
   Saheb and his friends used to get money and sometimes silver in Garbage.Saheb and other poor children used to search this free money very eagerly in garbage. This used to help their family a little. And sometimes he used to get very valuable items too which kept him greedy. His family was so poor that they did not even have money to start any work on their own.And this was the condition of all Bangladeshi people who left their homes and were settled in Seemapuri.
4. What did the author promise to Saheb? Why couldn’t she fulfill it?
   Seeing Saheb and other children roaming around the whole day on streets, the author promised that she will build a school and asked them to join for studies. Saheb believed her words and dreamed of school. But this was said just like that by author, she was not serious at all.After a few days when both met, Saheb asked about the school. Author was embarrassed as she was not intended to open any school.
5. Why has the author called Saheb’s life a Bleak World?
   Ans: Bleak world is a colorless world with no hope. The world of children like Saheb is exactly the same. They do not have a bright future because neither they can afford education nor government looks after them from a second glance. It is not their fault that they were born in poverty, but showing them a new path and providing them equal opportunities in society should be the first priority of the government.However, government looks towards them from the view point of vote bank only. Due to all these reasons, their next generation is also engaged in poverty, hunger and such activities.

According to the author, Seemapuri has been like a forest for the last several decades. Over time, the population has grown but a decent number of people here are refugees from Bangladesh who left their country post creation of it. The area is slum with structures of mud with roofs of tin and tarpaulin. The dirty water of sewage flows near the settlement of those people.Garbage piles are near their house and stray animals roam in it throughout the day.

Why did the children not wear any footwear? What justification did they give for it?
Children were too poor to afford footwear. The children gave many justifications for not wearing slippers. Somebody said his parents don’t buy for him while other said that it was their tradition to move bare-footed.The truth was that they had now got used to roam like this.Sometimes not wearing slippers or torn old clothes becomes a way of showing the poverty and troubles. And when it is a compulsion not to wear slippers for one, then fellow children also copy that trend and they are unaware of the harm.

Author Anees Jung called garbage as gold for Seemapuri migrants because gold is one of the precious metals of world. Since many centuries any valuable item is compared with Gold only. Gold can be converted into cash anytime by any anyone and cash can be redeemed to meet daily needs. Any kind of metal, plastic, electrical goods or anything found in the garbage is not less than gold for them. They sell them in open market for cash which meets their square meal of the day. And sometimes they get really gold or even silver because many electrical and electronic items have a small portion of silver in it.

1. If migrants of Seemapuri settled due to natural disaster then why didn’t they go back later?
   There are many reasons why Seemapuri migrants didn’t go back to Bangladesh. First, they got means of survival in Delhi. Along with their livelihood, they also got a temporary residence. Second, the government has made arrangements for them like ration cards which help them to buy food grains at subsidized rates. Last but not least they were also afraid if they go back, they will have to start everything from scratch. And there would be no arrangement for their food or anything else.
2. Which sport did Saheb like? Did he get a chance to play that?
   Saheb-e-Alam loved tennis a lot. He used to watch this game from outside the tennis court. He was not allowed inside during the game but the gatekeeper let him in after the game was over.And for him swinging those swings was also a great pleasure to experience. He was not allowed to play tennis because he was not a member of academy.
3. What was Saheb wearing one morning? Where did he get it?
   Saheb was wearing tennis shoes given by someone. Those shoes might have belonged to some rich boy who had stopped wearing them.Saheb was very happy and he didn’t care that there was a hole in one of those pair of shoes. If someone who has spent a large part of life barefoot, it does not matter how old or torn the shoes given to him. Such poor children wear such shoes or clothes until they are raged and they are no longer fit to wear.
4. Why does garbage have different meanings for elders and younger?
   Garbage is a means of livelihood for elders because they have the responsibility of their home and children. They have already lost everything in their own country, if they don’t do rag picking here every day, then the survival will be difficult. For children this work is like entering a new world where they get something new everyday. Sometimes it is money and sometimes its metals or toys for them. Sometimes they get something for themselves, sometimes for the elders, which they sell and run their house.

Why they are still empty stomach though they are working & earning from bangles making since generations?
This work is not enough to make them rich or empowered. By putting their health at stake, they get little money from bangles making that they can hardly survive. We read about a woman in this story who says “she has not enjoyed even one full meal in her lifetime”. This shows how many difficulties they face and make their living.

How has the author described Mukesh’s house and his locality?
Mukesh lived in a slum area. A place where both humans and animals live in the same place together.There were huge piles of garbage and a very foul smell was coming from the filth.Unaware of this, they live in a world where they can get so many diseases from this filth. This is perhaps the reason why they don’t live a long life. There were kuchcha homes in that colony made of mud and cow dung. That place was not fit for humans in any way, but people living below the poverty line had no other choice.

1. Who was Savita? What was her job?
   Savita was a young girl in Mukesh’s locality in Firozabad. Her job was to make glass bangles like any other person involved in this industry. Coming into this terrible work at a young age, she was unaware of what these bangles are used for and its importance in Hindu weddings. According to author, Savita was very good at her work because she was working in similar trade for a quite long time now. Now she has a gleam in her eyes and enthusiasm for work, but by the time she learns the visual effects of this work, it will be too late.
2. How does the author ask to unite against the exploitation of sahukars?
   Seeing the labor working in the glass industry of Firozabad, Anees appeals to them to unite and bring this fight together. She feels that it will be difficult to win this battle alone and if this continues, the future of the children of this city will always be in the dark.After talking to people, she felt that people have no hope of getting out of this life because they have accepted it as fate.She asks them to form a cooperative and fight against local administration, bureaucrats, politicians and others who have created a vicious circle for them and their future generations.
3. Do the people of Firozabad unite against child labor after being influenced by Anees’s words?
   Though people agree with Anees’s words but they find it an impossible task to fight against it. There are two reasons behind this. First, this is their means of livelihood. Their kids have been supporting them from a young age if they don’t send them to the factory, how will they run the house?
   Second, if they unite then the police will beat them up and put them in jail for wrong doings. But what they do not tell the author and the main reason is that they do not have any great leader who can lead them in this mission. Instead of fighting this battle, they talk endlessly about poverty, hunger and injustice. And this is the reason that even today they are standing where their forefathers were.

Why is the story of Saheb&Mukesh called lost spring?
The childhood of Saheb and Mukesh is called spring because spring is a season. The spring season gets its name from the verb “spring.” It’s a nod to the flowers and plants springing up, springing open, and bursting into blossom. Same way a child also a child is born, his mental and physical development takes place and then he reaches to adolescence. Children need constant attention and guidance specially in early years of life.Most of their mental development takes place at this age.When children work in factories, they are deprived of school which is the foundation of child’s success. The flower of their childhood does not bloom and if that happens then the future of the nation is dark. Although a lot is said and written about the development and activities of children, but author Meta Lander in his book “Blossoms of Childhood” has written that 90% of brain development takes place by the age of 5. Saheb & Mukesh both were affected by circumstance and luck respectively. Both were deprived of that good phase of childhood as they had to work at a young age to financially support their families.Rag picking and working in the glass furnace industry has a very dangerous effect on health. Surroundings, prevailing conditions and the type of job involved-all prove risky to the health of the workers.Working in hot conditions can be hazardous to health. Effects range from discomfort or heat rash to heat exhaustion or heat stroke which can cause permanent injury or death. Heat stress can occur without the worker being aware of how much they are affected until it is almost too late. Those who exploit by showing greed for money at a young age never think about health and future. It is often said that “every child is a different kind of flower and together make this world a beautiful garden”.

According to you, who are the other migrants who took refuge in India and are forced to live a life like a Saheb?
People from many countries migrate to India for various reasons. Like,Thousands of Nepalese migrate to India every year due to absence of fruitful local employment in their country. Migration of people from Nepal to India is also due to a Peace & Friendship treaty signed between two Nations in 1950 to establish strategic relationship between the two South Asian neighbors.
But primary reason is due to poverty, unemployment, declining natural resources and also the Maoist insurgency, migration has become an important livelihood strategy in Nepal. Sikkim has the highest density of Nepalese as compared to any Indian state. We can see them working hard in Food & Beverage and housekeeping industry majorly in most of our states. Like Bangladeshis, they too get engage in such works from a young age and their sufferings are like that of any poor African country. Despite being hard worker they remain below poverty line and suffer serious problems like rag pickers of Seemapuri.

How can the exploitation of children in the glass industry of Firozabad be stopped? Do you agree with the steps taken by the government?
The exploitation of children can be stopped via various means in Firozabad’s glass and bangles industry. NGO’S which are already working extensively towards eradication of child labor from shops, factories and other menial works should work aggressively with famous and respectful celebrities of civil society appealing for boycott of children from said work. Celebrities can influence the public by communicating in an effective way. Secondly, We should send more and more children to school. India has the world’s largest educational system, yet faces the hurdles of low literacy, due to low enrollment. Recently some organizations have come to the fore which have taken a commendable step towards nomination of kids in schools. Education is a crucial component of any effective effort to eliminate child labor. In India, about 1.4 million child labors are in the age group of 7-14 years. What is more concerning that these kids can’t even write their names. This is all because of lack of education. The basic reason for child labor is poverty, illiteracy, and unemployment. People who are illiterate do not send their children to school. Instead of sending them schools, they force them to earn money. Thus, small children cannot get the education, as a result, they lack behind in their life. Last but not least, there should be effective implementation of laws. Though government at their respective state and central level have made several laws to stop child labor but that’s not enough. There are serious gaps in implementation of these laws. And these gaps have become possible because of relaxation from middlemen, police, local administration, industry association and others. As we saw in this story that people do not want to be united in this campaign.Unless the government makes right coordination at district levels strictly enforces them, it is difficult to implement it properly.