Compare and contrast the plight of Saheb and Mukesh from "" Lost Spring: Stories of Stolen Childhood"".
Answers
Lost Spring Important Questions Short Answer Type Questions (3-4 marks)
Question 1.
What does the writer mean when she says, ‘Saheb is no longer his own master’? (Delhi 2000)
Answer:
Since Saheb now works in a tea-stall, he is now bound to his master and feels burdened. The steel canister he carries is very heavy as compared to his light plastic bag. The bag was his own and the canister belongs to his master whose orders he now has to follow. So he is no longer his own master.
Question 2.
Is it possible for Mukesh to realize his dream? Justify your answer? (All India 2000)
Answer:
Mukesh’s determination is going to prove instrumental in helping him to realize his dream. His dream can become a reality only if he is able to find a garage where he can be taken in as an apprentice and then he will have to learn how to drive a car. He will then be able to graduate himself to be a good mechanic.
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Question 3
What does the title, ‘Lost Spring’ convey? (All India 2000)
Answer:
The title ‘Lost Spring’ conveys how millions of children in India lose out on living the ‘spring’ of their lives, that is their childhood. The best phase of life is lost in the hardships involved to earn their livelihood. Poverty forces these young children to work in the most inhuman conditions as a result of which they miss out on the fun of childhood which hampers their growth.
Question 4
Why does the author say that the bangle makers are caught in a vicious web?(All India 2010)
Answer:
The author says that the bangle makers are caught in a vicious web which starts from poverty, to indifferences, then to greed and finally to injustice. Mind-numbing toil kills their hopes and dreams. They cannot organise themselves into cooperatives and have fallen into a vicious circle of ‘sahukars’, middlemen and the police so they get condemned to poverty and perpetual exploitation.
Question 5.
Who is Mukesh? What is his dream? (Delhi 2012)
Answer:
Mukesh is a child labourer in a glass factory in Firozabad. Belonging to a family of bangle makers, he shows no fascination towards bangle-making and insists on being his own master. He dreams of becoming a motor mechanic. He desires to go to a garage and get the required training for this job.
Question 6.
Is Saheb happy working at the tea stall? Why/ Why not? (Delhi 2012)
Answer:
No, Saheb is not happy working at the tea stall. Even though, he now gets a fixed income of ?800 alongwith all his meals, he has lost his freedom and his carefree days. He is no longer his own master and is bound and burdened by the steel canister he now has to carry.
Question 7.
Why could the bangle-makers not organise themselves into a co-operative? (All India 2012)
Answer:
The bangle-makers are caught in a vicious web which starts from poverty to indifferences then to greed and finally to injustice. Mind-numbing toil kills their hopes and dreams.
The bangle makers of Ferozabad were not able to organise themselves into a cooperative because they had got trapped in a vicious circle j of the sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, j the bureaucrats and the politicians.
Question 08
Mention any two problems faced by the bangle sellers.(Comptt. All India 2012)
Answer:
The bangle makers had to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells without air and light. They are exposed to various health hazards like losing their eyesight as they work in abysmal conditions in dark and dingy cells. They were also caught in a web of poverty, burdened by the stigma of caste in which they were born and also caught in a vicious circle of sahukars, middlemen and policeman.
Question 9
Why can’t the bangle makers of Ferozabad organize themselves into a cooperative? (Comptt. Delhi 2013)
Answer:
The bangle-makers are caught in a vicious web which starts from poverty to indifferences then to greed and finally to injustice. Mind-numbing toil kills their hopes and dreams.
The bangle makers of Ferozabad were not able to organise themselves into a cooperative because they had got trapped in a vicious circle j of the sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, j the bureaucrats and the politicians. Together they had imposed a baggage on these people 1 which they could not put down.
Question 10.
Why is Saheb unhappy working at the tea i stall? (Comptt. Delhi 2013)
Answer:
Saheb was unhappy while working at the tea- stall because he was no longer the master of his own life. He lost his freedom and carefree look. He had to live and work under the instructions of the owner of the tea-stall. He was not at liberty to go out and spend time with his friends.