Summary of Lost Spring
Lost Spring – Stories of Stolen Childhood by Anees Jung exposes the heartbreaking realities of children trapped in poverty and child labour. The chapter is divided into two parts, each highlighting a different aspect of deprivation.
Part I – “Sometimes I Find a Rupee in the Garbage”
This part follows the life of Saheb, a young ragpicker living in Seemapuri on the outskirts of Delhi. Saheb’s family migrated from Bangladesh after storms destroyed their homes and fields. Like thousands of other refugees living in makeshift huts without proper sanitation or identity, their only means of survival is rag-picking.
To the elders, garbage is a means of livelihood; to children, it holds the thrill of finding a coin or something valuable.
Although Saheb dreams of going to school, such dreams remain out of reach because no real opportunities are available. When he later takes a job at a tea-stall for ₹800 and meals, he loses the carefree freedom he once had as a ragpicker. His plastic bag gave him a sense of ownership, but the heavy steel canister he now carries symbolises his lost independence.
Part II – “I Want to Drive a Car”
The second part focuses on Mukesh, a boy from Firozabad, the centre of India’s bangle-making industry. Generations of families work in hazardous, airless rooms near furnaces, often going blind from the glass dust. Trapped by poverty, caste traditions, corrupt officials, sahukars, and middlemen, the workers live in a vicious cycle from which escape seems impossible.
Even children slog through long hours, unaware that child labour is illegal.
While Mukesh’s family accepts their fate, Mukesh dares to dream of becoming a motor mechanic, showing a spark of hope in an otherwise bleak world.
About the Author — Anees Jung
Anees Jung (born 1944) is a well-known Indian writer, journalist, and columnist recognized for her powerful writings on social issues, especially the lives of women and children. She was born in Rourkela and grew up in Hyderabad in a literary family; both her parents were writers. Educated in Hyderabad and in the United States, she began her career as a journalist before becoming an author of several acclaimed books.
Her most famous works include Unveiling India, Broken Shadows, and Lost Spring. Jung’s writing is marked by empathy, sensitivity, and vivid narrative style. Through her books, she brings attention to the harsh realities of poverty, gender inequality, and child labour. In Lost Spring, she exposes the struggles of street children, ragpickers, and bangle workers, showing how deprivation steals their childhood and dreams.
COMPREHENSION CHECK
1. What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he come from?
Saheb is looking for “gold” in the garbage dumps—small coins, useful items, or anything valuable.
He lives in Seemapuri, on the outskirts of Delhi, and he has come from Bangladesh, leaving behind his home in Dhaka due to storms that destroyed their fields and houses.
2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?
The author mentions two explanations:
- Poverty – Many parents cannot afford proper footwear.
- Tradition – Some people say it is a tradition to stay barefoot, though the author feels this is just an excuse to hide perpetual poverty.
3. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain.
No, Saheb is not truly happy.
Though he earns ₹800 and gets meals, he has lost his carefree freedom. The steel canister he carries feels heavier than the plastic bag he once carried lightly because the bag was his own. Now he is no longer “his own master.”
COMPREHENSION CHECK
1. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
Firozabad is famous for its glass-blowing industry, especially for producing bangles worn by women across India.
2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
- Children work in hot furnaces and dingy, airless cells.
- They often lose the brightness of their eyes and suffer blindness.
- Continuous exposure to glass dust and heat leads to lung and eye diseases.
- The work is unsafe, illegal, and physically exhausting.
3. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
Mukesh wants to break free from the family tradition of bangle-making.
While his family accepts poverty as fate (“karam”), Mukesh dreams of becoming a motor mechanic and insists on learning the trade, showing hope, ambition, and courage.
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
1. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?
- Natural calamities (like storms that destroyed homes in Dhaka)
- Lack of food or employment in villages
- Hope of better livelihood in cities
- Need for survival and basic necessities
- Cities offer more opportunities to earn (even through rag-picking)
2. Would you agree that promises made to poor children are rarely kept? Why?
Yes. Poor children often receive false hopes and empty promises because people make such promises without real intention or ability to fulfil them.
In the story, the author casually promises to open a school and Saheb takes it seriously. But the promise is never kept, reflecting the neglect and insensitivity the poor face.
3. What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?
A combination of:
- Caste traditions (bangle-making caste)
- Poverty passed across generations
- Lack of education
- Middlemen and sahukars
- Police and political corruption
- Harsh work conditions
- Fear of organizing into cooperatives (leading to harassment by authorities)
Together, these forces trap them in a vicious circle of poverty and exploitation.
TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT
1. How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream?
- By joining a garage and learning motor repair skills
- By staying determined despite poverty
- By seeking help from skilled mechanics
- By breaking away from family’s fatalistic attitude
- By continuing to dream big and remain focused
2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
- Exposure to high temperatures
- Working in dark, narrow rooms
- Eye damage leading to blindness
- Dust inhalation causing respiratory problems
- Physical strain from long hours of labour
3. Why should child labour be eliminated and how?
Why:
- It destroys childhood
- Causes physical and emotional harm
- Prevents education
- Traps children in lifelong poverty
- Violates human rights
How:
- Strict enforcement of child labour laws
- Awareness campaigns
- Poverty alleviation schemes
- Free and compulsory education
- Government and NGO support for families
- Social responsibility from citizens and industries
THINKING ABOUT LANGUAGE (Identifying Literary Devices)
Identify the device in each sentence:
- Saheb-e-Alam… in contrast to what he is — Irony
- Drowned in an air of desolation — Metaphor
- Miles away metaphorically — Metaphor
- Wrapped in wonder / means of survival — Contrast
- Hands move… like tongs of a machine — Simile
- Bangles on her wrist, but no light in her eyes — Metaphor
- Few airplanes fly over Firozabad — Hyperbole (subtle exaggeration)
- Web of poverty — Metaphor
- Scrounging for gold — Hyperbole / Metaphor
- Rag-picking has acquired the proportions of a fine art — Hyperbole
- Steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag — Symbolism / Contrast
THINGS TO DO
Look around and find examples of such paradoxes. Write a paragraph of about 200 to 250 words on any one of them.
You never see the poor who build the city’s glittering skyline. By day they heave steel beams, guide cranes and set gleaming panes of glass into place; by night they are banished to bleak labour camps at the city’s edge, where tarpaulin roofs shiver in the wind and children study by the weak glow of a borrowed bulb. The buildings they erect sparkle in corporate brochures and become symbols of progress, yet the hands that made them are raw, blistered and unnamed in the public eye. This paradox — the splendour of the structure and the squalor of its maker — is sustained by a chain of invisible injustices: middlemen who skim wages, contracts that favour firms over families, absence of identity papers and social security, and the social acceptance of cheap, flexible labour. The human cost is high: chronic illness from dust and exposure, fractured childhoods, and the erosion of dignity that comes from being essential yet expendable. To celebrate the city without acknowledging those who built it is to live comfortably in a lie. If progress is measured by monuments, then true progress must also be measured by whether those who raise them can eat, sleep, and raise their children with security and pride.
WRITING
Note-making and reporting.
Over 20 months from 2013 to 2015 more than 100 garbage collectors and scrap buyers in Delhi were interviewed. Their families lived in poverty in homes constructed with bamboo and plastic sheets. These temporary structures were their shelters as well as place for sorting scrap into about ten different
categories. Once the garbage is sorted into sacks it is gold to the buyers on the basis of its weight. Sadly, the collectors usually are not paid the total amount after buying the scrap. Instead, small payments are made for daily expenses, and the rest is noted down as a deposit.
(As reported in THE CONVERSATION, June 27, 2017. Researcher Dana Kornberg, PhD candidate in sociology University of Michigan.)
As you have read, a large population works in unorganized sectors like garbage pickers, bangle makers, vegetable sellers, etc. How do you think workers in unorganized sectors can take advantage of digital infrastructure promoted through Digital India Programme? Interview some people working in unorganized sector to collect their views and prepare a report.
ANSWER
Digital Empowerment of Workers in the Unorganized Sector
By: John Doe, Student Reporter
As part of a study on the impact of the Digital India Programme on workers in the unorganized sector, I interviewed five individuals—a garbage collector, a bangle maker, a vegetable seller, a scrap buyer, and a street tailor. All of them expressed that although their lives are difficult, digital tools have started to bring noticeable improvements.
Most workers shared that earlier they were paid only in cash, often irregularly, and frequently cheated by middlemen. With the introduction of UPI and QR-code payments, many now receive money directly and instantly. A vegetable seller explained that having digital payment options helps her avoid losing customers who do not carry cash. A scrap buyer mentioned that online payments create a clear record, reducing disputes with wholesalers.
Digital India has also helped workers access bank accounts, Aadhaar-linked services, and government welfare schemes. Several interviewees said they now receive subsidies or benefits directly into their accounts, something that was not always possible earlier.
However, workers also highlighted the need for proper digital training, apps in local languages, and protection from online fraud. They stressed that government camps or NGO-driven workshops could make digital tools easier to use.
Overall, the Digital India Programme has begun to empower unorganized sector workers by increasing transparency, security, and financial inclusion, although more awareness and support are still required.
