NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo - Prose Chapter 2 - Lost Spring
NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Flamingo - Prose Chapter 2 Free PDF Download
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Text Book Questions :-
Notice these expressions in the text. Infer their meaning from the context.
(a) Looking for—searching for
(b) Slog their daylight hours— toil/hard work during the day
(c) Roof over his head—shelter
(d) Perpetual state of poverty—continuous state of poverty
(e) Dark hutment’s—Huts with poor lighting
(f) Imposed the baggage on the child—(here) forcefully putting the load on the child
Think as you Read :-
1. What is Sahib looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he come from?
Ans. Saheb scoured and explored the garbage dumps in search of ‘gold’. He, along with thousands of other ragpickers resided at Seemapuri, a slum on the periphery of Delhi. Along with his parents, he had migrated from
Bangladesh as their house and fields were swept away by repeated storms.
2. . What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?
Ans. The author had seen children walking barefoot, in cities as well as on village roads. It was a tradition to stay
barefoot, as they felt their tattered attire and barefeet emphasised their permanent state of poverty and traced
an ancient tradition preserved by the poor rag-pickers.
3. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain
Ans. Saheb was not happy working at the tea-stall. There was a fixed earning and food to suffice his hunger but he had lost his freedom. Earlier, working as a rag-picker, his earning was meagre, but he had enjoyed his work
as he was not accountable to anyone. Now, he was no longer his own master.
4. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
Ans. Firozabad is famous for its bangle-making industry. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making
bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass blowing industry where families have spent generations working
around furnaces, welding glass and making bangles for women.
5. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry?
Ans. Workers in the glass-bangle industry slog their daylight hours working near hot furnaces in dingy cells
having no proper lighting and ventilation. At times, they lose their eyesight because of the dust emitted while
polishing glass, bangles. In Firozabad, children also labour in glass-bangle industries where they fall prey to
such a hazardous working atmosphere
6. How was Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
Ans. Mukesh was willing to come out from the vicious circle and lineage of glass makers. He listened to his tender
heart to become a motor mechanic. He willingly took up the hardship to walk a long way to the garage to
acquire his necessary training and skills. Thus, he dared to fulfil his dream.
Understanding the Text :-
1. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?
Ans. With the passage of time, more and more people are migrating from villages to cities. The pressure on villages has increased due to over-population, illiteracy and unemployment. Moreover, with the advent of mechanised farming, landless labourers are compelled to migrate to cities for jobs. In earlier days, agriculture was their main profession, but with extensive industrialisation and advanced education, the youth migrate to cities in search of jobs and education. They do not want to stay in unhealthy and unhygienic rural surroundings. The village crafts also have been replaced with modern machines. The market is full of competition, quality and
economical goods. The villagers fail to compete with the new system of extensive industrialisation and hence,
they fail to sell their products. Most of the time they get indebted due to agricultural loans and end up losing
their lands and properties. Lastly, due to urbanisation, villagers migrate to cities to have a better lifestyle for
themselves.
2.Would you agree that promises made to poor children are rarely kept? Why do you think this happens in
the incidents narrated in the text?
Ans. We agree to the fact that promises made to poor children are rarely kept. We organise different talk
shows to eradicate child labour, yet India accounts for the maximum number of child workers in the
world. Child labour inflicts physical and mental harm to the children. In the lesson ‘Lost Spring’,
the author presented a clear picture of children employed in rag-picking and the bangle-making industry.
She saw the plight of rag-pickers and asked Saheb whether he would go to a school if she opened one in
the neighbourhood. Later, she felt embarrassed for making a promise to a child that was never meant to be
fulfilled. Rag-pickers of Seemapuri and child labourers of Firozabad had never been to school. They were the
soft and easy target of exploitation by the sahukars, middlemen, policeman and the politicians. They were
lured into that profession, killing all their possibilities, drive and ability to study in life.
3. What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?
Anees Jung had rightly analysed two distinct classes that operated in the town of Firozabad. The first are
comprised of families caught in the lineage of making bangles. They had never thought beyond their ancestral
profession. They knew that their earning was meagre and it was difficult to meet both ends.
The second strata comprised of sahukars, bureaucrats, policemen and shrewd politicians who forced the
children into child labour in the hazardous environment of the bangle-making industry. The young as well
as the old were trapped into this vicious cycle. If they raised a voice against this ongoing system, they were
hauled up by the police. They took it as a God-given lineage that was never to be broken. This thought had
killed the initiative in them. They never thought of forming a union. They had accepted it as their fate and
never raised a voice to come out from the web of poverty and the clutches of bureaucrats.
Talking about the Text :-
1. How in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream?
Ans. Mukesh belonged to a family of bangle-makers who followed their ancestral profession and believed it to be a God-given lineage and accepted the poverty, misery and exploitation connected with it as a part of their fate. He dared to listen to his tender heart and chose the profession of his choice. He was willing to come out from the vicious circle and lineage of glass makers. He did not let poverty kill his dreams. He dreamt to become a
motor mechanic and wanted to join a garage as an apprentice. He was willing to walk a long way to the garage
and dreamt to obtain the license to drive a car so he could possibly take up a job as a mechanic or a driver. In
this way, he dared to realise and fulfil his dream.
2.. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
Ans. Working in the glass bangles industry is quite hazardous. Workers spend long hours near the glass furnaces
operating under high temperature. They slog their daylight hours working in dingy cells having neither
proper lighting nor ventilation. Their eyes become more adjusted to the darkness prevailing inside their
workshop than the light and open air outside. Many a times they lose their eyesight because of the dust
emitted while polishing glass bangles. Even though child labour is banned by law, children of tender age are
mostly employed in this hazardous profession. They sit in dark hutments along with their parents or elders
giving shape to pieces of coloured glass turning them into beautiful round bangles. Working in such uncouth
conditions makes them more prone to accidents and also kill their initiative to pursue their dream and break
the shackles to come out from the lineage.
3. Why should child labour be eliminated and how?
Ans. . Child labour is an offense. It is banned under the law. Yet it goes on unabated in many cities and towns. It
is hazardous in nature. It inflicts physical and mental harm which they are neither able to understand nor
express. Many a times, they lose or damage their vital body organs while working. They lose their innocence
before they become adults. Slogging day and night kills all their initiative, drive and desire to dream in life.
They are even deprived of school education and proper growth. Employing children in perilous industries
like manufacturing fireworks, bangles and carpet industry is life-threatening. If any accident or disaster
occurs, these children are totally unaware how to protect themselves.
The only possible solution with the government and the society lies in punishing the exploiters ruthlessly.
The laws against child labour should become more strict and implemented in totality. Only exemplary
punishment can put an end to such a crime
Thinking about Language :
Although this text speaks of factual events and situations of misery it transforms these situations with an almost
poetical prose into a literary experience. How does it do so? Here are some literary devices :
Hyperbole is a way of speaking or writing that makes something sound better or more exciting than it really
is. For Example: Garbage to them is gold.
A Metaphor, as you may know, compares two things or ideas that are not very similar. A metaphor describes
a thing in terms of a single quality or feature of some other thing: we can say that a metaphor ‘transfers’ a
quality of one thing to another. For example: The road was a ribbon of light.
Simile is a word or phrase that compares one thing with another using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. For example:
As white as snow
Carefully read the following phrases and sentences taken from the text. Can you identify the literary
devices in each example?
Q.1. Saheb-e-Alam which means the lord of the universe is directly in contrast to what Saheb is in reality Ans. Irony.
Q. 2. Drowned in an air of desolation.
Ans. Hyperbole.
Q. 3. Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically.
Ans. Irony.
Q. 4. For the children it is wrapped in wonder; for the elders it is a means of survival.
Ans. Contrast.
Q. 5. As her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine, I wonder if she knows the sanctity of the
bangles she helps make.
Ans. Simile.
Q. 6. She still has bangles on her wrist, but not light in her eyes.
Ans. Contrast.
Q. 7. Few airplanes fly over Firozabad.
Ans. Contrast.
Q. 8. Web of poverty.
Ans. Metaphor.
Q. 9. Scrounging for gold.
Ans. Hyperbole.
Q.10. Survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art.
Ans. Hyperbole.
Q.11. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulder.
Ans. Metaphor.
