Long Answer Questions from Chapter 2 Lost Spring- Stories of Stolen Childhood, CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo Book
Here are the Long Answer questions of 5 Marks for CBSE Class 12 English Flamingo Book Chapter 2 Lost Spring – Stories of Stolen Childhood. The questions we have compiled will help the students to brush up on their knowledge about the subject. Students can practice Class 12 English Long Answer Questions for board exam preparation.
Q1. What is the irony inherent in Saheb’s full name?
A. The name Saheb-e-Alam means the Lord of the Universe. However, it is in contrast to the life of the ragpicker boy who lives in a slum and whose parents cannot afford two square meals. The poor boy scourages through dumps of garbage in search of valuables like torn shoes and clothes which can somewhat fulfil his broken desires. His wish of going to school, playing tennis and wearing a pair of new shoes will go unfulfilled and his world is full of such discontentment. The author points out that his name seems to be a mockery because he is very far away from being a lord. Thus, we get to see the contrast between the boy’s name and his life.
Q2. How do children lose the spring of their life in India?
A. Children from families who experience extreme poverty are forced to live lives of great need, which causes them to lose their impressionable childhood.
Saheb, a ragpicker without a formal education, rummaged through trash as he walked the streets. He had no shoes on either. Later, he starts working at a tea shop, losing his freedom and carefree life because he is no longer his own master. Children raised in such conditions become their parents’ co-survival partners. The second boy, Mukesh is forced to adopt the family traditional occupation despite his dream of becoming a mechanic.
Every morning, a horde of barefoot kids with plastic bags on their shoulders and nowhere to go visit the garbage dumps. The Lost Spring talks about how miserable it is for disadvantaged kids. These kids are those who didn’t get to experience childhood because of the global socioeconomic problems faced by their families. One may observe this everywhere in the world. These kids are not given the chance to attend school. They work in hazardous conditions which damages them physically. The work that they do does not promise a rewarding future. The life of such underprivileged children is awful.
Q3. Why do children walk barefoot, in cities, or on village roads? Is it a tradition or something else? What does the author Anees Jung state about it in her story ‘Lost Spring’?
A. In the story The Lost Spring, the author tells us that when she asked a group of barefoot children about not wearing shoes, she got a mixed response. Some said that they did not have footwear, a few did not like wearing one while a few claimed that it was a part of their tradition to remain barefeet.
She also saw the kids of the priest at the local temple roaming barefeet and praying in the temple, perhaps for a pair of shoes. This was so because when she visited the place a few years later, she noticed that the priest’s son had a uniform and a pair of shoes as well. This indicated that now their financial position had improved and they could afford buying shoes.
Thus, we can conclude that remaining barefeet was not a tradition but it reflected the poor economic condition of those people.
Q4. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?
A. In the story “Lost Spring” we get an insight into the lives of people who migrate from rural areas to cities. They do so because the villages do not provide any source of income to them. Their fields and homes get destroyed by calamities like rains and floods and they are left with nothing. The authorities do not provide any rehabilitation to such homeless, poverty ridden people. Thus, they are left with no other option, these people migrate to cities in search of work, food and shelter lest they should die.
Other than this, people also migrate to cities because city life provides a better standard of living as the cities have better infrastructure. Facilities of education, health care, recreation are a few factors which attract people to move to cities.
Q5. What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?
A. The author discusses the issues that keep the workers in poverty and shows concern about their exploitation in the dangerous job of creating bangles through the narrative of the Firozabad bangle manufacturers. They reside in filthy alleyways with dwellings that are overflowing with trash. Families of humans and animals dwell in these primitive hovels for housing. They are unable to form cooperatives by themselves. Their families are entangled in a web of destitution and a vicious circle of sahukars, intermediaries, law enforcers, police officers, bureaucrats, and politicians who impose a burden they are unable to shed. From poverty, they descend into apathy, then greed, then injustice.
All bangle makers work under abhorrent and unpleasant conditions. Children in particular are at risk of losing their eyesight at a young age and being more susceptible to other health risks because they labour in high temperature, poorly lit, and poorly ventilated glass furnaces. They are forced to perform their jobs under these cruel circumstances. Their goals and dreams are killed by their mindless labour. They are doomed to a life of abject poverty and unending exploitation, where they must live and die in misery.
Q6. For most women, bangles are dreams in glass but for bangle makers of Firozabad they are a vicious circle they cannot wriggle out of. Comment.
A. Bangles made of glass hold an auspicious and solemn position in the culture and traditions of India. A woman wears them on every festival and other religious ceremonies. For a married woman, these glass bangles are a part of her wedding attire and are considered sacred. Thus, every woman has a set of glass bangles in her wardrobe essentials.
The author shows her worry over the exploitation of these bangle makers. The childhood of children who work in this field is lost due to extreme poverty, hard labour, and poor working conditions. All bangle makers work under abhorrent and unpleasant conditions. Children in particular are at risk of losing their eyesight at a young age and being more susceptible to other health risks because they labour in high temperature, poorly lit, and poorly ventilated glass furnaces. Humans and animals coexist in these hovels, which are located near Ferozabad’s foul alleyways, which are congested with waste. With the passing of time, their lives make no advancement or development. They are forced to perform their jobs under these cruel circumstances. Their goals and dreams are killed by their mindless labour. They are doomed to a life of abject poverty and unending exploitation, where they must live and die in misery.
So we see a contrast in the lives of those who use these articles and those who make them.
Q7. Explain the significance of the title ‘Lost Spring’.
A. The author Anees Jung explores and analyses the crushing poverty and tradition that condemn children to a life of exploitation. Saheb was a ragpicker whose parents had fled the extreme poverty of Bangladesh. His family, along with numerous other rag-picker families, resides in Seemapuri. They are in a terrible situation. Saheb, whose name means “ruler of the Universe,” has lost the innocence of childhood, and the writer is grieved by this. She then goes on to discuss Mukesh’s desire to be his own master. Coming from Firozabad, the hub of India’s bangle-making and glass-blowing industries, he has always worked in the glass manufacturing facility. His family is unaware that it is forbidden for kids. His family is unaware that it is against the law for kids to labour so close to extremely hot furnaces. As they operate in dim and gloomy cells, they are exposed to a variety of health risks, including losing their vision. The Firozabad bangle maker’s family is so overburdened that they are unable to dream. According to the author’s observations, the Sahukars, middlemen, police, bureaucrats, and politicians are using these poor, helpless individuals as pawns in their own schemes.