Chapter 2 — Lost Spring

"Lost Spring" is an excerpt from Anees Jung's book "Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood". It analyses the grinding poverty and traditions that condemn children to a life of exploitation through two real stories: Saheb-e-Alam, a ragpicker in Seemapuri, and Mukesh, a bangle-maker's son in Firozabad.

Saheb-e-Alam is a barefoot ragpicker boy whose family came from Dhaka, Bangladesh, after storms swept away their fields and homes. He lives in Seemapuri, a settlement on the periphery of Delhi, and scrounges garbage dumps every morning looking for coins and useful items. His name means "lord of the universe", though, as the author notes, "he does not know what it means."

Seemapuri is a place on the periphery of Delhi described as "miles away from it, metaphorically." About 10,000 ragpickers live there in structures of mud with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage, or running water. Most are squatters who came from Bangladesh in 1971 and have lived there for more than thirty years without identity or permits, surviving on ration cards that enable them to buy grain.

Mukesh is a boy from Firozabad whose family has been making glass bangles for generations. Unlike his family members who accept bangle-making as their destiny, Mukesh insists on being "his own master" and dreams of becoming a motor mechanic. He says "I will learn to drive a car" and "I will walk" to the distant garage to learn, showing a rare determination to break free.

The chapter states that children work in glass furnaces at high temperatures in "dingy cells without air and light", often losing the brightness of their eyes. It is illegal for children to work in such conditions, but the law is not enforced. Workers' eyes become "more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside," causing them to lose their eyesight before they become adults. Mukesh's grandmother watched her own husband go blind from polishing glass bangles.

The text describes two overlapping traps. One is the family web of "poverty, burdened by the stigma of caste." The other is a vicious circle of sahukars, middlemen, policemen, bureaucrats, and politicians. When young men suggest organising into a cooperative, they are told they would be "hauled up by the police, beaten and dragged to jail." Years of mind-numbing toil have "killed all initiative and the ability to dream."

When Saheb starts working at a tea stall for 800 rupees and all his meals, he carries a steel canister for the owner. The author observes that "the steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulder." The bag was his own, representing freedom; the canister belongs to the tea-shop owner, symbolising that "Saheb is no longer his own master."

The subtitle of the chapter is "Stories of Stolen Childhood." The NCERT textbook states the theme as "the plight of street children forced into labour early in life and denied the opportunity of schooling." Spring represents childhood, hope, and new beginnings; the title signals that for children like Saheb and Mukesh these possibilities are lost to poverty, caste, and exploitation.

The textbook highlights several devices: hyperbole — "Garbage to them is gold"; metaphor — "web of poverty", "Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically"; simile — "as her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine"; and contrast — "She still has bangles on her wrist, but no light in her eyes."

The author is Anees Jung (born 1944 in Rourkela), who spent her childhood in Hyderabad and received education in Hyderabad and the United States. The chapter is an excerpt from her book titled "Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood", in which she analyses grinding poverty and traditions that condemn children to exploitation.

Yes. The NCERT Class 12 English Flamingo textbook PDF, including Chapter 2 "Lost Spring", is available free on CBSE PrepMaster. No sign-up or account is required — just open the chapter page and download directly.