The Lost child-Short and Long Questions by Aditya Singh

 The Lost child-Short and Long Questions by Aditya Singh

Aditya Classes

The Lost Spring 

Class-12th

Short Questions

Q1.Why does the author say that the bangle makers are caught in a vicious web?

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.

Q2.What does the writer mean when she says, ‘Saheb is no longer his own master’?

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.

Q3.Who is Mukesh? What is his dream?

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.

Q4.Is Saheb happy working at the tea stall? Why/ Why not?

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.

Q5.Why could the bangle-makers not organise themselves into a co-operative?

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 of the sahukars,the middlemen, the policemen,the bureaucrats and the politicians.

Q6.Mention any two problems faced by the bangle sellers.

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 dark and dingy cells.

Q7.Garbage has two different meanings—one for the children and another for the adults. Comment.

Answer:For the children garbage has a different meaning from what it means for the adults. For the children it is wrapped in wonder, their eyes light-up when they find a rupee or a ten-rupee note in it. They search the garbage excitedly with the hope of finding something more. But for the elders it is a means of survival.

Q8.Why did Saheb’s parents leave Dhaka and migrate to India?

Answer:Saheb’s home was set amidst the green fields of Dhaka. His mother told him that many storms had swept away their fields and homes. For this reason his parents were forced to leave Dhaka and migrate to India, looking for gold in the big city where they now live.

Q9.What is Mukesh’s dream? Do you think he will be able to fulfil his dream? Why? Why not?

Answer:Mukesh’s dream is to learn to drive a car and become a motor mechanic. His dream is likely to be fulfilled because one can sense a kind of determination in him to ensure the fulfillment of his dream. Though the garage is a long way from his home he is willing to walk to learn despite the odds against him.

Q10.How was Mukesh different from other bangle makers?

Answer:Mukesh was different from other bangle makers because he wanted to be his own master. He had a dream of becoming a motor mechanic whereas other bangle makers did not even dare to dream but had accepted their fate.

Q11.How are Saheb and Mukesh different from each other?

Answer:Mukesh’s attitude towards life was different from that of Saheb. Unlike Saheb he was optimistic about his future and so he dared to dream. He wanted to become a motor mechanic and also wanted to learn to drive a car. Saheb lacked determination so he harboured no dreams or ambitions about his future.

Long Question

Q1.Describe the difficulties the bangle makers of Firozabad have to face in their lives.

Answer:Through the story of the bangle-makers of Ferozabad, the author expresses her concern over their exploitation in the hazardous job of bangle-making. Extreme poverty, hard work and dismal working conditions result in the loss of the childhood of children who are in this profession. The working conditions of all bangle-makers are pathetic and miserable. They work in high temperature, badly lit and poorly ventilated glass furnaces due to which child workers especially are at risk of losing their eyesight at an early age and get prone to other health hazards. The stinking lanes of Ferozabad are choked with garbage and humans and animals live together in these hovels. There is no development or progress in their lives with the passage of time. They have no choice but to work in these inhuman conditions. Mind-numbing toil kills their dreams and hopes. They are condemned to live and die in squalor, subjected to a life of poverty and perpetual exploitation.

Q2.Describe the circumstances which keep the workers in the bangle industry in poverty.

Answer:Through the story of the bangle makers of Firozabad, the author expresses concern over their exploitation in the hazardous job of bangle making and addresses the circumstances which keep the workers in poverty. They live in stinking lanes, choked with garbage in homes. Their houses are hovels with families of humans and animals coexisting in a primeval state. They cannot organise themselves into cooperatives. Their families are caught in a web of poverty and in a vicious circle of the sahukars, the middlemen, the keepers of law, the policemen, the bureaucrats and the politicians who impose on them a baggage which they cannot put down. They move in a spiral from poverty, to apathy, to greed and to injustice.

Q3.How is Mukesh’s attitude towards his situation different from that of Saheb? Why?

Answer:Mukesh’s attitude towards his situation is different from that of Saheb. Mukesh is more of a rebel who dares to be different and wishes to become a motor mechanic. Though, Mukesh too, like his community, is working in back breaking, mind-numbing glass industry but unlike his peers, the spark in him has not extinguished. He wants to break free from the vicious circle which his community has been caught in. Saheb, on the other hand, has enslaved himself. By taking up work in the tea stall he is no longer his own master. The difference in their attitude towards their situation can be attributed to the fact that Saheb is a rootless migrant from Bangladesh and Mukesh is a citizen of India. Moreover, Mukesh dares to dream. The author too senses a flash of daring in Mukesh and this is what makes his attitude a little more aggressive than Saheb.

Q4."For the children it is wrapped in wonder, for the elders it is a means of survival.” What kind of life do the rag-pickers of Seemapuri lead?

Answer:Garbage, for the ragpickers of Seemapuri, is considered to be nothing less than gold. Picking garbage helps them to earn their daily bread, gives them a roof over their head and is their only means of livelihood and survival. For the innocent children garbage is wrapped in wonder as they marvel at the prospect of finding a coin, a currency note or a curio that sustains their hope. These children grow up to become partners in survival with their parents. Seemapuri houses around 10,000 ragpickers mostly Bangladeshi refugees, who have lived there for more than thirty years without an identity and without permits. These people live in mud structures with roofs made of tin and tarpaulin. The ration cards that enable them to get their names on voters’ lists and enable them to buy grain and garbage are their means of survival. Food is more important to them for survival than an identity.