LOST SPRING

LOST SPRING 

  - ANEES JUNG 

Short - Answer Type Questions 

1. Who was Saheb? What was his name? What was the irony about his name? 

Answer : Saheb was a poor rag picker. His full name was Saheb-e-Alam. It means lord of the universe. But Saheb not even had shoes to wear. Thus there was deep irony in his name. 

2. Who was Mukesh? What was his aim in life? 

Answer : Mukesh belonged to a family of bangle makers in Firozabad. He did not like the life of a bangle maker. He wanted to be his own master. His dream was to become a motor mechanic. 

3.What does garbage mean for the elders and the children in Seemapuri? 

Answer : Garbage to the elders is gold. It is their daily bread. It means a roof over their heads. But for children it is even more. For them, it is a thing wrapped in wonder and for the elders it is a means of survival. 

4. What kind of locality does Mukesh live in? 

Answer : The locality where Mukesh lives is very dirty. The lanes are stinking and choked with garbage. The homes look like hovels. Their walls are crumbling. They have wobbly doors and no windows. Men and animals live in them together. 

5. Who is Savita? What is she doing? What does the writer wonder about? 

Answer : 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 symbolise an Indian woman's suhaag. 

6. Why don't the poor bangle makers organise themselves into co-operative? 

Answer : The poor bangle makers don't organise themselves into co-operative because there are cruel middlemen. They don't let the bangle makers form any co-operative. They put the police after them. They are caught and beaten by the police. They are put into jail on false charges of illegal acts. The poor bangle makers have no leader to guide them. 

7. How is Mukesh's attitude to his situation different from that of his family? 

Answer : Mukesh belongs to a family of bangle makers. These people think it a God-given lineage. But Mukesh wants to be his own master. He wants to become a motor mechanic. His attitude is different from that of his family as he wants to break away from the family tradition. 

Long-Answer Type Questions 

1. Reproduce briefly the story related to the man from Udipi. 

Answer : The writer once met a man from Udipi. The man had told the writer 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 at the temple and pray for a pair of shoes. The boy finally got a pair of shoes. Now the boy prayed, "Let me never lose them" and the goddess granted his prayer. 

The writer says that she visited the town thirty years later. The temple had a new priest. The new priest's son was wearing a grey uniform. He was also wearing socks and shoes. The writer remembered the prayer another boy had made. She saw that boys like the son of the priest now wore shoes. But many others like the rag pickers in her neighborhood were still shoeless. 

2. What did the writer see when Mukesh took her to his home? 

Answer : The writer saw that it was a slum area. The lanes were stinking and choked with garbage. The homes looked like hovels. Their walls were crumbling. The doors were wobbly. There were no windows. The homes were crowded with humans and animals. Mukesh's home was like a half-built shack. A frail young woman was cooking the evening meal. She was the wife of Mukesh's elder brother. She brought her veil closer to her face when Mukesh's father came in. Mukesh's father was a poor bangle maker. Even after long years of hard labour, he had failed to renovate his house. Mukesh's grandmother was also there. Her own husband had gone blind with dust from the polishing of glass bangles.