Notes of Lost Spring

These excerpts are taken from the author’s book Lost Spring : Stories of Stolen Childhood. This chapter is divided
into two parts, continuing the author’s first-hand experience with poverty and traditions prevailing in some parts
of India. The first part describes the plight of the poor ragpickers of Seemapuri. The second part describes the
miserable conditions of the bangle-makers of Firozabad.

Sometimes I Find a Rupee in the Garbage

Saheb: The Ragpicker

 Every morning the author meets Saheb and his friends scrounging for ‘gold’ in the garbage dumps of her
neighbourhood.
 Saheb and his family hail from Bangladesh, but they have left their home a long time ago.
 Storms washed away their fields and homes, reducing them to a state of abject poverty, which they left
behind in the hope of finding a better life.
 That is why they came to this city looking for ‘gold’.
 The author asks Saheb why he does rag picking and does not go to school. To this, he replies that there is
no school in his neighbourhood.
 The author jokingly promises to open a school. After a few days, Saheb asks if the author has opened the
school.
 The author is very embarrassed at having made a promise that was not meant to be fulfilled.
Nevertheless, she realises that such promises are made to these children almost every day.
Saheb-e-Alam: Lord of the Universe

 After some months of knowing him, the author asks Saheb his full name. The author notices the irony in
Saheb’s name, ‘Saheb-e-Alam,’ which means Lord of the [Link] Saheb is a poverty-stricken
ragpicker who scrounges the garbage dumps to earn his livelihood.
 His name is complete contrast to his miserable existence.
Reason for not wearing Chappals

 The author curiously asks why they don’t wear slippers. One replies that his mother does not bring them
down from the shelf. Another says he wants shoes.
 Moving across the country, the author has seen many children walk barefoot.
 One of the explanations is that it is a tradition and not lack of money.
 Anees wonders if this is just an excuse to explain away a perpetual ( never ending) state of poverty.
Author Pained by the Fact that Ragpickers are Still Barefoot

 The author remembers a man from Udipi who, as a young boy, would pass a temple where his father was
a priest and pray for a pair of shoes.
 Thirty years later the author visited his town. Behind the temple there was the house of a new priest.
 Anees noticed the young boy of the priest, who arrived panting, was wearing shoes. The writer was
reminded of the boy who prayed that he should never lose his shoes.
 The goddess had granted his prayer, as most of the young boys there now have shoes to wear.
 As against this, the ragpickers in the author’s neighbourhood still remain barefoot.
Garbage is Gold

 The author’s acquaintance with the barefoot ragpickers takes her to Seemapuri. Seemapuri is a place on
the periphery of Delhi, yet miles away from it metaphorically.
 The place is home to 10000 others shoeless ragpickers like Saheb.
 They are all Bangladeshi refugees who came here back in 1971. They live in very poor conditions in mud
structures with roofs of tin and tarpaulin.
 The place has no running water facility and no drainage. The ragpickers have lived here for the past 30
years, some even more, without identity, yet they have valid ration cards.
 Not having an identity does not bother them, if at the end of the day they don’t sleep with empty
stomachs.
  They prefer to live here rather than in the fields at home in Bangladesh , which gave them no grain due to
frequent storms.
 They, who once lived in the beautiful land of green fields and rivers, are now compelled to pitch their
tents wherever they find food.
 Children bornto them become partners in survival. And survival in Seemapuri means ragpicking.
 Over the years, rag picking has become an art. Garbage is gold to these ragpickers. It is their only support
and means of income. Saheb tells the author that sometimes he finds a rupee, even a ten-rupee note.
 Anees realises that garbage holds a different meaning to both parents and children.
 For parents it is the source of their livelihood, providing them with food and shelter; for children, it is
wrapped in wonder.

Saheb’s Dream

 One winter morning, the author sees Saheb outside the fenced gate of the neighbourhood club. He was
watching a game of tennis.
 Saheb seems to be fascinated by the game. He tells the author that sometimes the guard lets him in and
then he can ride the swing.
 The author notices that Saheb is wearing tennis shoes. Saheb tells her that someone gave them to him.
 The fact that some rich boy discarded the shoes because there was a hole in one of them does not bother
him.
 For Saheb, who has walked his whole life barefoot, it is like a dream come true.
Saheb No Longer his Own Master

 One morning the author sees Saheb on his way to the milk booth. He was carrying a steel canister. He
informs the author that now he works at the tea stall and is paid X 800 and all his meals.
 But the author feels that Saheb is not happy. His face has lost its carefree look.
 The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag that he used for Rag picking.
 The bag was his, but the canister belongs to the owner of the tea stall. Saheb is no longer his own master.
Part 2 - I WANT TO DRIVE A CAR

Mukesh Wants to be his Own Master

 Here begins the second story. In Firozabad, the author meets Mukesh, who insists on being his own
master. He wishes to be a motor mechanic.
 Anees asks him if he knows anything about cars. Mukesh replies that he would learn to drive a car. The
author feels that his dream is like a mirage amidst the dusty streets of Firozabad.
 Every second family in Firozabad is engaged in the business of bangle-making.
 Firozabad is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry, where generations after generations have been
involved in this business.

Another Encounter with Poverty

 The people of Firozabad involve their children in the bangle-making industry without knowing that it is
illegal for children to work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures, in dingy cells without air and
light.
 If the law is enforced, almost 20000 children would be. out of the hot furnaces, where they work day and
night, often losing the brightness of their eyes.
 Mukesh proudly announces that his house is being rebuilt, and volunteers to take the author home.
 They walk down stinking lanes choked with garbage, past houses that are small and dirty constructions
with wobbly doors and with no windows, where families of humans and animals co-exist in a primitive
state.
 They enter a half-built shack, one part of which is thatched with dead grass, and a frail young woman is
cooking the evening meal for the whole family. She is the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother.
 Though not much older in years, she has the respect of a bahu. She veils her face when Mukesh’s father
enters.

The God-given Lineage

  Mukesh’s father has toiled hard all his life, first as a tailor and then as a bangle-maker.
 Still the poor’fellow has been unable to renovate his house or send his two sons to school.
 All he could manage to do was to teach them what he knows about the art of bangle-making.
 Mukesh’s grandmother has seen her husband go blind by the dust from polishing the glass bangles. She
believes in destiny.
 Born in the caste of bangle-makers, they have seen nothing but bangles, bangles of various colours.

Miserable life of Bangle maker

 In dark hutments, next to lines of flames of flickering oil lamps, sit boys and girls with their fathers and
mothers, welding pieces of coloured glass into circles of bangles.
 Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside.
 They often end up losing their eyesight before they become adults.
Daring, not a Part of Growing Up- Vicious Web

 The cry of not having money can be heard in every household of Firozabad.
 Nothing has changed over the years. Years of hardship have killed all hopes and dreams.
 The author asks a group of young men to organise themselves in a cooperative.
 She learns the horrific truth that even if they get organised, they are taken to jail for doing something
illegal and are beaten up.
 There is no leader among them.
 The author finds two distinct worlds in Firozabad. One is the exploited family caught in a vortex of poverty
and the stigma of the caste in which they were born.
 The other is a vicious circle of those who exploit them, the sahukars, the middlemen, the politicians, the
lawmakers, the policemen and the bureaucrats.
 These have created such a burden that a child accepts this as naturally as his father did. To do something
else would mean to dare. And daring is not a part of growing up.
A Ray of Hope

 The author is filled with joy when she finds that Mukesh thinks differently. The boy is filled with hope. His
dream of being a motor-mechanic is still alive in his eyes.
 Although itwould be difficult for Mukesh to achieve his dream, as he is torn between his desires and his
family tradition, which he cannot escape. Besides, he has to face a number of obstacles in the form of
sahukars, middlemen, bureaucrats, law makers, politicians etc. However, his will to work hard, and his
strong determination could make him achieve his dream. ‘
 He is willing to dare. Anees asks Mukesh if he also dreams of flying a plane. Mukesh replies in the
negative. He is content to dream of cars, as few planes fly over Firozabad.
Theme

“Lost Spring” is a poignant narrative shedding light on the struggles of marginalized individuals.
It encourages readers to reflect on and act towards societal change and equality, emphasizing the importance
of addressing the root causes of exploitation.