CLASS XII

ENGLISH CORE
BOOK: FLAMINGO
CHAPTER 1-THE LOST SPRING
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Lesson name: The Lost spring by Anees Jung

The theme of the chapter is the grinding poverty and the traditions which condemn poor
children to a life of exploitation. The two stories taken together depict the plight of street
children forced into labour early in life and denied the opportunity of schooling. The story,
“Lost Spring” deals with the pitiful situation of poor kids who get driven to lead a miserable life
and abstain the joyous times of childhood because of their social circumstances. These kids are
not given the chance of education and are enforced to start working early in life. The writer
Anees Jung attempts hard to eradicate child labor through her writing. She propagates the
education of kids and the implementation of stringent regulations against child labor by the
administration. The message was communicated so that end to child exploitation can be
achieved and all kids experience their days of the spring and happiness.

Read more on:

1. Brainly.in - https://brainly.in/question/7301790#readmore.

2. https://edumantra.net/learn-english/lost-spring-theme-title/

The story unfolds through the voice of the author Anees Yung .
Born in Rourkela, Anees hails from an aristocratic family in Hyderabad – her father, Nawab
Hosh Yar Jung, was a renowned scholar and poet, and served as the musahib (adviser) to the
last Nizam (prince) of Hyderabad State.  Her mother and brother are also Urdu poets. After
schooling and college at Osmania University in Hyderabad, she went to the United States for
higher studies at University of Michigan Ann Arbor, where she did her Masters in Sociology and
American Studies.
She started her career in writing with the Youth Times, a Times of India publication, where she
worked as a journalist and editor (1976 to 1979). She has subsequently worked for the Christian
Science Monitor and International Herald TribuneAnees Jung lives in Delhi.
Books
Jung published Unveiling India in 1987. It is a travel diary focusing on interviews with women.
She has written several subsequent books on the same, talking to women about their everyday
lives, including Night of the New Moon: Encounters with Muslim women in India. (1993), Seven
Sisters (1994). Breaking the Silence (1997) is based on conversations on women's lives from
around the world. Beyond the Courtyard (2003) is based on interviews with the daughters of
the women she had talked to first in Unveiling India, and many of the horrifying tales continue.
Anees Jung's Lost Spring: Stories of stolen childhood (2005) focuses on children from deprived
backgrounds, and includes the story of Idrees, a child who is kidnapped and forced to work in
the carpet industry in Mirzapur. Others are maltreated by alcoholic fathers or married off early
or sexually abused, though some find refuge in schools set up by well-meaning NGOs. A section
of this book is part of the English curriculum.  Jung is noted for her lively and vivid descriptions.
Other books by Jung include ‘When a place becomes a person ‘(1977) and The Song of India
(1990).

A few facts about Poverty:

Most South Asian countries, including India, do not have a national, regional or international
policy for the protection of refugees. They also haven’t officially disclosed why there is no
policy.

Over the past decades, though, many reasons have been inferred towards this peculiar South
Asian behaviour. For instance, India’s reluctance to accept refugees could be attributed to the
international community’s response to its call for assistance while dealing with lakhs of people
who had arrived here after fleeing Bangladesh in 1971.

Reasons are mainly political, but those who came in due to economic crisis from Bangladesh
have also fallen victim and are not given citizenship.

Poverty in this sense may be understood as a condition in which a person or community is

lacking in the basic needs for a minimum standard of well-being and life, particularly as a result
of a persistent lack of income. The refugees from Seemapuri find themselves in this category.
What is needed is governmental intervention and societal compassion to better their
conditions. But as said earlier, politics, lack of ‘humane’ values like love, sympathy, greed of
those with vested interest and other considerations are man blockades.

Highlights of the story:

The two boys, both find themselves in the same pathetically poverty stricken condition. One,
an illegal immigrant and the other, a citizen of India share the same fate. Government
functionaries like politicians, police, governors, the business community and the common
people are all indifferent to the plight of the poor and exploit them for different reasons. False
promises are made, threats are given, and as the author points out people feel their condition
is self created to some extent for example sahib and his friends don’t wear slippers even though
they have one.
In fact the author too once behaved flippantly by jokingly promising to open a school where
sahib can come and study. But she realizes very soon that this was wrong on her part as sahib
believed her promise and every day kept asking if the school has started or not.
Freedom does not mean earning money for subsistence. Saheb enjoyed freedom when he was
a rag picker, for he was his own master and he followed his instinct. But working in the tea shop
has financially given him an edge over others who are poor but has robbed him of his self worth
and ownership.
Saheb has a dream to study and improve his lot. He wants to like millions other to be self-
sufficient in the real sense. He feels education will empower him to lead a free and a healthy
life and derive away penury (poverty).
Mukesh, on the other hand, too dreams of being a motor mechanic. For this he has to train
himself, and he is willing to travel a great distance to do so. This is how he feels he will free
himself from the oppression of the sahukars and the rest and rid himself of the tedious life of
bangle maker, working in the dingy cells for hours on end.
Freedom therefore, is the principal theme of the story that surfaces in various parts of the
story. As an extension, we see how the Sahukars, politicians, administrators and police are all in
collusion (together) to deprive the bangle makers of Firozabad of their right of freedom.
Dream is another theme, for every child has a dream hidden in his /her bosom, that he/ she
yearns to fulfill. The children’s dreams are shattered by the society as they only see money and
politics above humanity.
The fact that the condition has been the same for generations as we see that Mukesh’s grand
parents have been carrying on those trade for generations; this has made it their karam. In
Seemapuri , the refugees have been living in the periphery of Delhi and yet miles away reveals
that they have been living so down the ages since they arrived in India, and that they have been
forgotten by the larger populace of Delhi.
This is the society that Anees Yung is focusing upon to show that it is not surprising that the
childhood of these tender lives have beed taken and their dreams dashed and freedom
snatched.
The essay tries to raise consciousness in the readers about the terrible plight of the poor whos
have to deal with the heartless cold and indifferent behavior of the society, who turn a blind
eye to safe guard their own interest, let alone the government and the administrators, who
intentionally use them for furtherance of their interest.
We, then, need to open our eyes and observe and help in different ways to alleviate the
situation. India will not ever reach the pinnacle of progress, as it dreams to one day, if millions
are suffering from poverty and negligence.
Assignments:
Answer the questions in 30-40 words:
1.What is ironical about Saheb’s name?
2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?

3. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?

Answer the questions in 150 words:

a. What are the different causes of poverty in India? Refer to the text for contextual input.
 b. Why does Saheb feel burdened after he had gained economic solvency from his job at
the tea stall?
c. What is the significance of Mahesh’s grandmothers comment ‘This is our karam’ from
the socio –economic perspective?
Mukesh’s grandmother justified her son by saying that he was destined to make bangles
as it had been their family profession. She had seen her husband become blind due to
the dust from polishing the glass bangles. She said that their family had got this art of
bangle making from God and so they had to carry on the tradition.
Mukesh's grandmother regrets the fact that her husband became blind because of the dust
that is generated when polishing bangles.Her sons and their sons also became bangle
makers because they did not know anything else.She believed that it is karma or destiny
that the whole family cannot be anything but be a bangle maker.This was what made them
a poor family as well.

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