2018 Year
Name the two boys that represent “Stolen Childhood” in the chapter, Lost Spring and give the family background of each boy. 1 Marks
Ans:- The two boys that represent “Stolen Childhood” are Saheb and Mukesh. Saheb belongs to the family background of a ragpicker whereas Mukesh belongs to the family who makes bangle in Firozabad.
What is garbage to the children and to the adults ? 1 Marks
Ans:- Garbage is gold to the adults because it provides them daily bread and a shelter. For children, it is gold because they sometimes find a rupee and a ten rupee note or silver coins in it.
Describe the conditions that the bangle makers of Firozabad live in. Why cannot they leave that trade and come out of their poverty ? 3+2=5 Marks
Ans:- The bangle makers of Firozabad have a large demography of families engaged in making bangles. The condition of the bangle makers is such that children are forced to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures in dingy cells without air and light. As the narrator suggest, around 20,000 children would be freed of this labour if the law is enforced. They slog inside these hot furnaces in their daylight hours often losing their eyesight.
In addition to this, the place that they live in pathetic because it is overcrowded and the sticking lanes choked with garbage. The shaft of their houses remain hovels with crumbling walls, wobbly doors, no windows and there are animals and humans living together in a primeval state. Once the narrator enters the half-built shack, the narrator observes the roof top covered with dead grass and a firewood stove over a large vessel of sizzling spinach leaves. There are large aluminium platters where chopped vegetables are kept. The people suffers from malnutrition as well as it is evident with “frail young woman” who is Mukesh’s elder brother’s wife. Mukesh’s father is also impoverished despite the long years of hard labour working firstly as a tailor then a bangle maker has failed to send his two sons to school. It shows the lack of financial resources in the family of bangle makers.
They cannot come out of their poverty because they are caught in a vicious cycle of two webs. Firstly, the families are caught in a web of poverty burdened by a stigma of caste in which they are born. Secondly, the political and administrative corruption of sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of the law, the bureaucrats and the politicians keep them in their vicious cycle of trap making them unable to come out of the poverty.
2019 Year
What was the prayer of the boy who finally got a pair of shoes ? 1 Marks
Ans:- The prayer of the boy who finally got a pair of shoes was “Let me never lose them”.
What do the bangles, that Savita help to make symbolize ? 1 Marks
Ans:-The bangles that Savita helps to make symbolizes an Indian woman’s suhaaag meaning an auspiciousness in marriage.
Name the two boys who represent stolen childhood in Lost Spring ? What do their families do for their living ? 1+4=5
Ans:- Saheb and Mukesh are the two boys who represent stolen childhood in “Lost Spring”.
The two families belong to the poor section of the Indian society. Saheb’s family work as a ragpicker. They came from Bangladesh in 1971 and the population of 10,000 ragpickers lives in Seemapuri where there are houses build of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage and a drainage of running water. Having lived here for more than thirty years, they consider food as more important than an identity. Saheb’s family displace around to a place they find food and they pitch their tents nearby that becomes their transit home. For the survival, the family does the job of rag picking which has become a fine art throughout the years. The garbage has become gold to them and it is a means of subsistence for them. To children, it is more than just a means of survival as they find some rupee or a silver coin or even a ten rupee note in it.
Additionally, Mukesh’s family engages themselves in making bangles at Firozabad. They work around furnaces, welding glass making bangles for all the women in the land perhaps. They earn their livelihood through making and selling bangles. They make a plethora of bangles such as sunny gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink, purple, every colour born out of the seven colours of the rainbow. They work in the dark hutments where small children sit and make bangles. Their eyes are adjusted to dark rather than to the light outside. Despite working for long hours and years, it is evident in the story that many of them have not eaten a proper food with great relish. Hence, some bangle makers, an old man that the narrator visits tells that he doesn’t know anything except bangles and he does it to provide for the family.
2020 Year
What is the main hazard of working in the glass bangle industry ? 1 Marks
Ans:- The main hazard of working in the glass bangle industry is the dust that comes out from polishing the glass of bangles potentially leading to blindness.
Why is garbage “gold” to the young ragpickers ? 1 Marks
Ans:- The garbage is “gold” to the young ragpickers because they seldom find silver coins or a rupee or even a ten rupee note.
Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangle factory. 5 Marks
Ans:- The hazards of working in the glass bangle factory has a significant impact on the health of the bangle makers. Firstly, the bangle making families spent generations working around hot furnaces, welding glass and making bangles for all the women in the land perhaps. Secondly, the children are greatly affected by the profession. They work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures in dingy cells without air and light slogging themselves in their daylight hours often losing their eyes. Critically, the health hazard associated with making bangle is the losing of the eyesight.
Thirdly, the hazard associated with making bangle is the dust that comes out from polishing glass of bangles. This dust is largely responsible for the damage it causes to their eyesight. Mukesh’s grandmother saw her own husband go blind with the dust after polishing the bangles.
Fourthly, the health hazard associated with making bangle is the children’s eyesight who often loses their vision after becoming adults. They sit in dark hutments next to lines of flames of flickering oil lamps with their fathers and mothers welding pieces of coloured glass into circle of bangles. The narrator states that “Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside” which clearly reflects its impact on children’s eyesight.
Lastly, the hazard of making bangle is the lack of economic satisfaction. It affects their health causing malnourishment and fragile as is evident in Mukesh’s elder brother’s wife. It is also expressed by old woman who states that she has never enjoyed even one full meal in her lifetime. The narrator states that “The cry of not having money to do anything except carry on the business of making bangles, not even enough to eat rings in every home” gives a clear indication of economic dissatisfaction leading to poverty and malnourishment among the family.
2021 Year
What suggestion did the author give the bangle makers to make their condition better ? 1 Marks
Ans:- The author suggested the bangle makers to organise themselves into a cooperative to make their condition better.
“I now work in a tea stall down the road”
I) Who worked in the tea stall ? 1 Marks
Ans:- Saheb works in the tea stall.
II) How much was he paid ? 1 Marks
Ans:- Saheb is paid 800 rupees including his meals.
III) Did he like the job ? Support your answer with evident from the text. 3 Marks
Ans:- No, he does not like the job. According to the narrator, Saheb has “lost the carefree look” in his face which gives an evidence that he does not like his job. Though he is being paid 800 rupees along with his meals, he has lost his independence and liberty working in the tea shop. He has become a slave and he is no “longer a master of his own”. To justify, Saheb works for the man who owns the tea shop and he carries the heavy steel canister that belongs to the man which is also heavier than the plastic bag he carries earlier.
2022 Year
What were Saheb’s reason for not going to school ? 1 Marks
Ans:- Saheb’s reason for not going to school was that there is no school in his neighbourhood.
How did Saheb get a pair of shoes ? 1 Marks
Ans:- Saheb got a pair of shoes from some rich boy who discarded the shoes because of a hole in one of them.
What was Mukesh’s dream ? 1 Marks
Ans:- Mukesh’s dream is to be a motor mechanic and he insists on being his own master.
How is Mukesh different from Saheb ? 5 Marks
Ans:- Mukesh is different from Saheb in many ways. Mukesh belongs to a family in Firozabad who are engaged in making bangles whereas Saheb belongs to a family of ragpickers. Mukesh’s family have spent generations making bangles around furnaces and welding pieces of glass to make bangles in Firozabad whereas Saheb’s family came from Bangladesh in 1971 settling in Seemapuri and they have been ragpickers for more than thirty years.
Mukesh’s dream is to be a motor mechanic and he insists on being his own master. Saheb, on the other hand, wants to go to school but he is no “longer a master of his own” because he works for the man who owns the tea shop. He is paid 800 rupees including his meals and he has lost his liberation and “carefree look”. This is how Mukesh is different from Saheb in dreams and the work.
Mukesh’s family bangle making condition is also different from Saheb’s family working environment. Mukesh’s entire family work in hot furnaces and many children both boys and girls are involved in making bangles. The hazards associated with making bangles often makes them to lose their eyesights after becoming adults. On the other hand, Saheb’a family displaces around the places and they pitches the tents whenever they find food that become their transit homes.
Lastly, Mukesh’s family survival depends on making and selling bangles. They make bangles at the expense of losing their eyesights. Mukesh’s grandmother saw her husband go blind from the dust from polishing the glass of bangles and many bangle makers have not enjoyed a full meal in their entire lifetime. As for Saheb, the garbage is “gold” to them because it is their daily bread and a roof over their heads. For children, the garbage is gold because they find silver coins and a rupee or a ten rupee note. This is how Mukesh is different from Saheb in terms of their survival and a means of earning.
