LOST SPRING

-ANEES JUNG

EXTRACT BASED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

1. “I have nothing else to do,” he mutters, looking away.

“Go to school,” I say glibly, realizing immediately how hollow the advice
must sound.

Q1. Who are conversing in this extract? Name the author.

Q2. “I have nothing else to do,”. What work does the speaker do?
Q3. Who advises whom and why would the advice sound hollow?
Q4. “he mutters,”. Who is “he”? What is full name and what is the irony in his name?

2. 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.

Q1. “If he knew its meaning”. Which meaning is mentioned her?

Q2. Why would “he” have a hard time believing it?
Q3. Why does “he” roam the streets?
Q4. Which figure of speech is used in “appear like the morning birds”?

3. “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.

Q1. “Why aren’t you wearing chappals?” Who is asking whom?

Q2. Why are the excuses made here for not wearing footwear?
Q3. What are the various excuses made here?
Q4. What are the living conditions of these boys?

4. I wonder if this is only an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of

poverty.

Q1. Who is the speaker?

Q2. About whom the speaker is talking?
Q3. Which excuses does the speaker refer to?
Q4. What is the reason of poverty here?

5. My acquaintance with the barefoot ragpickers leads me to Seemapuri, a

place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically.

Q1. Who is the speaker?

Q2. Who are these barefoot ragpickers and why are they barefoot?
Q3. In what sense is Seemapuri miles away from Delhi?
Q4. Who are the people who reside at Seemapuri?
6. Food is more important for survival than an identity.

Q1. What is being referred to here?

Q2. About whom the reference is being made?
Q3. How do they manage food?
Q4. What is the identity of the ones mentioned here?

7. 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!

Q1. Whose face has lost the carefree look and why?
Q2. How is the steel canister heavier than the ragpicking bag?
Q3. How is Saheb is no longer his own master?
Q4. What is the name of the chapter and who is the author?

8. 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.

Q1. Who are “we” here?

Q2. Whose conditions are described here?
Q3. What are the working conditions of these people?
Q4. Where are “we” going?

9. “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.

Q1. Who is asking whom?

Q2. Why can’t they form a union?
Q3. Who else belongs to the Vicious circle?
Q4. Who among these young boys has decided to breakfree the tradition?

10. 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.

Q1. Who are caught in the web of poverty?

Q2. Which is the other world mentioned here?
Q3. How are the two world so distinct?
Q4. What can help to breakfree from the stigma?

11. 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.

Q1. Who are “they” here?

Q2. “Before he is aware”. Who is “he” here?
Q3. Which baggage is mentioned here?
Q4. Why it would be a daring to do anything else?
12. “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.

Q1. “Do you also dream of flying a plane?” Who addresses whom?
Q2. What makes the other person embarrassed?
Q3. Why is he satisfied to dream of cars only?
Q4. What dream he holds in his heart? Will his dream come true?

ANSWER KEY

Q1.

ANS:1 The author, Anees Jung and Saheb, a small boy, who is a ragpicker.
ANS:2 Saheb is a poor ragpicker.
ANS:3 The author, Anees Jung, advises Saheb to go to school instead of ragpicking but
the advice is quite useless and Saheb is too poor to afford to go to school.
ANS:4 “he” is Saheb-e-alam which means Lord of the Universe but he is only a poor
ragpicking, barely managing his living.

Q2.

ANS:1 It’s the meaning of Saheb-e-alam which means Lord of the universe.
ANS:2 Saheb would have hard time believing the meaning of his name as he is just a
poor ragpicker barely managing to survive.
ANS:3 Saheb roams with his friends searching garbage here and there as these boys
are ragpickers.
ANS:4 Simile.

Q3.

ANS:1 The author, Anees Jung, is asking small boys who are ragpickers.
ANS:2 The boys feel embarrassed to accept their poverty and pitiful conditions.
ANS:3 Mothers don’t buy footwear. They won’t wear even if they have. There is a
tradition of not wearing footwear.
ANS:4 There are mud houses with tin roof, no sewage, drainage or running water.

Q4.
ANS:1 The speaker is Anees Jung.
ANS:2 She is talking about small boys who are poor ragpickers.
ANS:3 The excuses made by the ragpickers for not wearing footwear.
ANS:4 These poor boys are involved in ragpicking and barely manage to survive.

Q5.
ANS:1 The speaker is Anees Jung.
ANS:2 They are small boys who are poor ragpickers and don’t earn enough to afford
footwear.
ANS:3 Seemapuri is metaphorically away from Delhi in terms of progress and
prosperity.
ANS:4 These people are the migrants who came in 1971 from Bangladesh.
Q6.
ANS:1 The miserable and pathetic conditions of poor ragpickers is being referred here.
ANS:2 The reference is about those migrants who came in 1971 from Bangladesh.
ANS:3 They barely manage to survive through ragpicking and get food at discounted
rates through ration cards.
ANS:4 The identity of these poor ragpickers of Seemapuri is just ration card.

Q7.
ANS:1 Saheb’s face has lost the carefree look as he has lost his freedom and become
a servant at a tea stall.
ANS:2 Ragpicking bag belonged to Saheb and he lived freely. But the steel canister
belongs to the owner of the tea stall where Saheb has got job and so he is no more
free.
ANS:3 Saheb has lost his freedom, become a slave to his master and now burdened
with responsibilities of his home.
ANS:4 “Lost Spring” written by Anees Jung.

Q8.

ANS:1 They are Anees Jung and Mukesh, who belongs to the family of bangle makers.
ANS:2 These are the living conditions of bangle makers of Firozabad.
ANS:3 They work in dingy cells with high temperatures, no fresh air . Their eyes are
more adjusted to the dark than the light outside.
ANS:4 Mukesh takes the author to his home ,which he feels is better than those of
others.

Q9.
ANS:1 The author is asking a group of young men who belong the family of bangle
makers.
ANS:2 Whoever tries to form a union is beaten up dragged into jail as if it’s an illegal
act.
ANS:3 Sahukars, middlemen, policemen, political leaders and bureaucrats.
ANS:4 Mukesh, a young man, has decided to breakfree from the tradition of bangle
making and become a motor mechanic.

Q10.
ANS:1 These are the poor bangle makers of Firozabad.
ANS:2 It’s a vicious circle of Sahukars, middlemen, policemen, political leaders and
bureaucrats.
ANS:3 One world belongs to the poor and helpless bangle makers and the other world
is of those people who don’t want these poor people to come out of their poverty and
live a decent life.
ANS:4 Determination, will power and education can help to breakfree from the stigma
of poverty.
Q11.
ANS:1 “they” are the people who belong to a vicious circle, such as Sahukars,
middlemen, policemen, political leaders and bureaucrats.
ANS:2 “he” is the child born in the family of bangle makers.
ANS:3 It is the baggage of never ending poverty as the corrupt people don’t let the
poor bangle makers raise a voice against any injustice.
ANS:4 The vicious circle has trapped the bangle makers to the extent that they don’t
have the courage to break the tradition and dream of something else.

Q12.
ANS:1 The author, Anees Jung, addresses Mukesh, a young boy belonging to the family
of bangle makers.
ANS:2 The fact that he is too poor to think of flying an air plane embarrassed Mukesh.
ANS:3 Mukesh understands his financial constraints which restricts him from dreaming
too big.
ANS:4 Mukesh wishes to be a motor mechanic. He is determined to walk till garage
which is quite far away. He is determined to fulfil his dream.

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