Gujarat Board GSEB Class 12 English Textbook Solutions Flamingo Chapter 2 Lost Spring Textbook Exercise Important Questions and Answers, Notes Pdf.

Gujarat Board Textbook Solutions Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 2 Lost Spring

GSEB Class 12 English Lost Spring Text Book Questions and Answers

Think as you Read (Textbook Page No. 16)

Question 1.
What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps ? Where is he and where has he come from?
Answer:
Saheb is looking for gold in the garbage dumps. He is in the neighbourhood of the author. Saheb has come from Bangladesh. He came with his mother in 1971. His house was set amidst the green fields of Dhaka. Storms swept away their fields and homes. So they left the country.

Question 2.
What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?
Answer:
One explanation offered by the author is that it is a tradition to stay barefoot. It is not lack of money. She wonders if this is only an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty. She also remembers the story of a poor boy who prayed to the goddess for a pair of shoes.

Question 3.
Is Saheb happy working at the tea- stall? Explain.
Answer:
No, Saheb is not happy working at the tea stall. He is no longer his own master. His face has lost the carefree look. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulder. The bag was his. The canister belongs to the man who owns the tea shop.

Think as you Read (Textbook Page No. 19)

Question 1.
What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
Answer:
The city of Firozabad is famous for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. It is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry. Families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for the women in the land.

Question 2.
Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
Answer:
Boys and girls with their fathers and mothers sit in dark hutments, next to lines of flames of flickering oil lamps. They weld 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 eyesight

before they become adults. Even the dust from polishing the glass of bangles is injurious to eyes. Many workers have become blind. The furnaces have very high temperature and therefore very dangerous.

Question 3.
How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
Answer:
Mukesh’s grandmother thinks that the god-given lineage can never be broken. Her son and grandsons are born in the caste of bangle makers. They have seen nothing but bangles. Mukesh’s father has taught them what he knows- the art of making bangles. But Mukesh wants to be a motor mechanic. He will go to a garage and learn, though the garage is far away from his home.

Understanding the Text

Question 1.
What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?
Answer:
People migrate from villages to cities in search of livelihood. Their fields fail to provide them means of survival. Cities provide employment, jobs or other means of getting food. The problem in case of the poor is to feed the hungry members. Survival is of primary concern.

Question 2.
Would you agree that promises made to poor children are rarely kept? Why do you think this happens in the incidents narrated in the text?
Answer:
The promises made to the poor are rarely kept. The author asks Saheb half-joking, whether he will come to her school if she starts one. Saheb agrees to do so. A few days later he asks if the school is ready. The writer feels embarrassed at having made a promise that was not. meant. Promises like hers abound in every corner of their bleak world.

Question 3.
What forces conspire to keep the workers in bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?
Answer:
Certain forces conspire to keep the workers in bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty. These include the moneylenders, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians. Together they impose a heavy burden on the child.

Talking about the Text

Question 1.
How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream?
Answer:
Mukesh is the son of a poor bangle-maker of Firozabad. Most of the young men of Firozabad have no initiative or ability to dream, but Mukesh is an exception. He has the capacity to take courage and break from the traditional family occupation. He has strong willpower also.

He does not want to be a pawn in the hands of the middlemen or moneylenders. He insists on being his own master by becoming a motor mechanic. He can realise his dream by joining a garage and learn the job of repairing cars and driving them. He will have to overcome many hurdles before he succeeds.

Then comes transport problem. Money is the first one. He will have to earn some money himself. The garage is a long way from his home. He will have to cover it twice every day anyhow by walking on foot. Patience, hard work, firm will and the determination to learn will help him realise his dream.

Question 2.
Why should child labour be eliminated and how?
Answer:
Child labour should be eliminated because the children employed at tender age as domestic servants, dish-washers at roadside dhabas and in hazardous industries making glass bangles, birds, crackers etc. lose the charm of the spring of their life. Their childhood is stolen. Burdened by the responsibility of work, they become adults too soon. Most of them are undernourished, ill-fed, uneducated and poor.

They have a stunted growth. Child labour can be eliminated only through concerted efforts on the part of government agencies, NGOs (Non-Government Organisations), cooperative societies and political leaders. Mere passing of law will not help. Laws should be enacted faithfully. The children thrown out of work should be rehabilitated and given proper food, clothes, education and pocket money. Their feelings, thoughts and emotions should be respected. Let them enjoy sunshine and fresh air.

Thinking about Language

Although this text speaks of factual events and situations of misery, it transforms these situations with an almost poetical prose into a literary experience. How does it do so? Here are some literary devices :

• Hyperbole is a way of speaking or writing that makes something sound better or more exciting than it really is. For example, Garbage to them is gold.
• A metaphor, as you may know, compares two things or ideas that are not very similar. A metaphor describes a thing in terms of a single quality or feature of some other thing; we can say that a metaphor ‘transfers’ a quality of one thing to another. For example; The road was a ribbon of light.
• Simile is a word or phrase that compares one thing with another using the words “like” or “as”. For example: As white as snow.

Carefully read the following phrases and sentences taken from the text. Can you identify the literary device in each example?
1. ‘Saheb-e-Alam’ which means ‘the lord of the universe is directly in contrast to what Saheb is in reality.
2. Drowned in an air of desolation
3. Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically.
4. For the children it is wrapped in wonder; for the elders, it is a means of survival.
5. As her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine, I wonder if she knows the sanctity of the bangles she helps make.
6. She still has bangles on her wrist, but not light in her eyes.
7. Few aeroplanes fly over Firozabad.
8. Web of poverty.
9. Scrounging for gold.
10. And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art.
11. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulders.
Answer:
1. Hyperbole
2. Metaphor
3. Contrast
4. Contrast
5. Simile
6. Contrast
7. Hyperbole
8. Metaphor
9. Metaphor
10. Hyperbole
11. Contrast

GSEB Class 12 English Lost Spring Additional Important Questions and Answers

Answer the following questions in three to four sentences each:

Question 1.
Who was Saheb? What was he doing and why?
Answer:
Saheb was a young boy of school-going age. He was looking for gold in the garbage dumps of the big city. He had left his home in Dhaka, Bangladesh and came to the big city in search of living. He has nothing else to do but pick rags.

Question 2.
“But promises like mine abound in every comer of his bleak world.” What promise does the author recall? In what context was it made? Was it fulfilled?
Answer:
The author asked Saheb about going to school. Saheb explained that there was no school in his neighbourhood. He promised to go to school when they built one. Half joking, the author asked whether he would come in case she started one. Saheb smiled broadly and agreed to come. After a few days, he ran up to the author and asked if the school was ready. The author felt embarrassed. She had made a promise that was not meant to be fulfilled.

Question 3.
How does the author focus on the ‘perpetual state of poverty of the children not wearing footwear?
Answer:
The author notices that most of the young children engaged in rag-picking are not wearing footwear. Some of them do not have chappals. Others want to wear shoes. Some say it is a tradition to stay barefoot. To the author, it seems lack of money. Poverty forces them to walk without footwear.

Question 4.
Explain: ‘For children, garbage has a meaning different from what it means to their parents’.
Answer:
Small children scrounge heaps of garbage. They expect to get some coin, note or valuable thing in it. Sometimes they find a rupee or even a ten-rupee note. This gives the hope of finding more. They search it excitedly. For children, garbage is wrapped in wonder. For the elders it is a means of survival. Thus, garbage has two different meanings.

Question 5.
Where does the author find Saheb one winter morning? What explanation does Saheb offer?
Answer:
The author finds Saheb standing by the fenced gate of a neighbourhood club. He is watching two young men, dressed in white, playing tennis. Saheb says that he likes the game, but he is content to watch it standing behind the fence. He goes inside when no one is around. He uses the swing there.

Question 6.
How does Saheb’s life change when he starts working at the tea stall?
Answer:
Saheb now has a regular income. He is paid 800 rupees and all his meals. Thus, food is no problem. But his face has lost the carefree look. The steel canister in his hand now seems a burden. He is no longer his own master. He may have to work for longer hours. The helplessness of doing things at his own will makes him sad.

Question 7.
Who is Mukesh? What is his dream? Why does it look like a mirage amidst the dust’?
Answer:
Mukesh is the son of a poor bangle-maker of Firozabad, where every other family is engaged in making bangles. His poor father has failed to renovate his house or send his two sons to school. Mukesh insists on being his own master. His dream is to be “a motor mechanic. He wants to drive a car. Given the conditions of existence, his dream looks like a mirage amidst the dust.

Question 8.
What contrast do you notice between the colours of the bangles and the atmosphere of the place where these bangles are made?
Answer:
The bangles are of every colour born out of the seven colours of the rainbow. These are sunny gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink and purple. Boys and girls work in dark hutments, next to the flickering flames of oil lamps around furnaces, blowing glass, welding and soldering it to make bangles.

Question 9.
What are most of the bangle-makers ignorant of? What would happen if law were enforced strictly?
Answer:
Most of the bangle-makers are ignorant of the fact that employing children in bangle making is illegal. This is a hazardous industry. Many children become blind before reaching their adulthood. If the law were enforced strictly, 20,000 children would be released from working hard throughout the day at hot furnaces with high temperatures.

Question 10.
Give a thumb-nail sketch of the ‘frail young woman’ in the chapter ‘Lost Spring’.
Answer:
The young woman is the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother. Her eyes are filled with the smoke of firewood. Though not much older in years, she commands respect as the daughter-in-law of the house. She adheres to customs and traditions. She veils her face before male elders. She gently withdraws behind the broken wall to do so.

Question 11.
“Savita is a symbol of innocence and efficiency.” Comment.
Answer:
Savita is a young girl. She has put on drab pink dress. She is soldering pieces of glass. Her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine. She is innocent as she is ignorant about the sanctity of the bangles she helps to make.

Question 12.
What do bangles symbolise? When, according to the author, will Savita know the sanctity of the bangles she helps make? How is the Indian bride dressed?
Answer:
Bangles symbolise auspiciousness in marriage for an Indian woman. Savita will come to know ‘the sanctity of the bangles when she becomes a bride. The head of a bride is draped with a red veil. Her hands are dyed with red henna. Red bangles are rolled onto her wrists.

Question 13.
‘She still has bangles on her wrist but no light in her eyes. What exactly does the author want to convey through this?
Answer:
‘She is an elderly woman who became a bride long ago. Since her husband, an old man with a flowing beard is still alive, she still has bangles on her wrist. She has, however, not enjoyed even one full meal in her entire lifetime. So, there is no light in her eyes. This is just a comment on the abject poverty and helplessness of the bangle-makers.

Question 14.
‘The young men echo the lament of their elders’. What do you think is the common complaint? How has it affected their lives?
Answer:
The bangle-makers of Firozabad are quite poor. They do not have enough money to do anything except carry on the business of making bangles. Some even do not have enough to pacify their hunger. Building a house for the family is an achievement for them. Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and the ability to dream.

Question 15.
Why do the bangle-makers not organise themselves into a cooperative?
Answer:
Most of the young bangle-makers have fallen into the traps of the middlemen. They are also afraid of the police. They know that the police will haul them up, beat them and drag to jail for doing something illegal. There is no leader among them to help them see things differently. Their fathers are equally tired. They can do nothing except carrying on their inherited business.

Question 16.
What do you think is the plight of the children born in the families of bangle-makers?
Answer:
The vicious circle of the middlemen and their allies have entrapped the poor bangle-makers in their nets. The stronghold is suffocating. They have imposed a heavy burden on little children. They can’t put it down. Before they are able to think, they accept the baggages as naturally as their fathers.

Question 17.
What do you think is the theme of ‘Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood’?
Answer:
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 callousness of the society and the political class only adds to the sufferings of these poor people.

Answer the following questions in six to seven sentences each:

Question 1.
What are the dreams of the poor like ‘Saheb-e-Alam’ and Mukesh? Could these be realised? What is the reality of the situation?
Answer:
Poor rag-pickers like Saheb spend the early years of their lives looking for gold in garbage dumps. The parents of these street children have no fixed income. They wage war against poverty and hunger. They have no dreams except finding the means of survival. Garbage to them is gold. It is the source of their daily bread and provides a roof over their heads. He ends up as a servant at a tea stall and loses his freedom.

Mukesh, the son of a poor bangle-maker of Firozabad, has a dream of becoming a motor mechanic. He wants to learn to drive a car. He thinks of joining a garage to fulfil his dream. He knows that the garage is far away, yet he has decided to walk. He realises the reality and is willing to overcome the obstacles. His daring to rise and decision to get free from the trap laid by vicious moneylenders and middlemen arouse a sense of hope. Deprived of education, proper food and upbringing, these children are forced into labour early in life.

Question 2.
Firozabad presents a strange paradox. Contrast the beauty of the glass bangles of Firozabad with the misery of the people who produce them.
Answer:
Firozabad, the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry, is famous for its bangles. Spirals of bangles of various colours can be seen lying in mounds in yards or piled on four-wheeled pushcarts. These bangles have shining bright colours: sunny gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink, purple – in fact, every colour born out of the seven colours of the rainbow.

The bangle-makers lead a miserable life. They know no other work than bangle-making. They have neither courage nor money to start another trade or job. They have spent generations in the clutches of middlemen and moneylenders. Extreme poverty forces them to remain hungry and yet work all day.

The elderly woman, who works with Savita, has not enjoyed even one full meal in her entire lifetime. Her husband has made a house for the family to live in. He has achieved what many have failed in their lifetime. Mukesh’s father has failed to renovate a house or send his two sons to school. Young boys are as tired as their fathers. Their work at hot furnaces makes them blind prematurely.

Question 3.
(i) “Survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking.” ‘
(ii) “Garbage to them is gold.”
(iii) “For the children, it (garbage) is wrapped in wonder, for the elders it is a means of survival.”
In the light of the above remarks write an account of the life and activities of the rag-pickers settled in Seemapuri (Delhi).
OR
Give a brief account of the life and activities of the Bangladeshi squatters like Saheb-e-Alam settled in Seemapuri.
Answer:
Seemapuri is a place on the periphery of Delhi, yet miles away from it metaphorically. Squatters who came from Bangladesh way back in 1971 live here. Saheb’s family is one of them. Seemapuri was then a wilderness. It still is, but it is no longer empty. Nearly 10,000 rag-pickers live there in structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin. These shanties are devoid of sewage, drainage or running water.

These people have lived there for more than thirty years without an identity or permit. They have got ration cards that enable them to buy grains and get their names on voters’ lists. For them, food is more important for survival than an identity. The women put on tattered saris. They left their fields as they gave them no grain. They pitch their tents wherever they find food. Rag-picking is the sole means of their survival.

It has acquired the proportions of a fine art for them. Garbage to them is gold. It provides them their daily bread and a roof over the heads. Most of the barefoot rag-pickers roam the streets early in the morning and finish their activities by noon. They seem to carry the plastic bag lightly over their shoulders. They are clothed In discoloured shirts and shorts and denied the opportunity of schooling.

Question 4.
“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. The young men echo the lament of their elders. Little has moved with time, it seems, in Firozabad.” Comment on the hardships of the bangle-makers of Firozabad with special emphasis on the forces that conspire against them and obstruct their progress.
Answer:
The bangle-makers of Firozabad are born in poverty, live in poverty and die in poverty. For generations, these people have been engaged in this trade – working around hot furnaces with high temperature, welding and soldering glass to make bangles. In spite of hard labour throughout the day, the return is meagre. Some of them have to sleep on empty, aching stomachs. Others do not have enough to eat. Whatever they do get is not delicious or nourishing.

The stinking lanes of their shantytown are choked with garbage. Their hovels have crumbling walls, wobbly doors and no windows. These are overcrowded with humans and animals.

Poverty and hunger, social customs and traditions, stigma of caste and the intrigues of powerful lobby that thrives on their labour combine to keep them poor, uneducated and hungry. The moneylenders, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians – all are ranged against them. Children are engaged in illegal and hazardous work.

Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and ability to dream. They are unable to organise themselves into Cooperative due to lack of a leader and fear of ill-treatment at the hands of the police. They seem to carry the burden that they can’t put down. They can talk but not act to improve their lot.

Question 5.
Compare and contrast the two families of bangle-sellers portrayed in ‘Lost Spring’. Comment on the roles of individuals in highlighting the issues raised by the author.
Answer:
One of the families is that of Mukesh’s. It comprises three males and two females: Mukesh, his brother, their father, their grandmother and the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother. The grandmother had watched her ovn husband go blind with the dust from polishing the glass of bangles. Mukesh’s father is a poor old bangle-maker, who has failed to renovate a house and send his two sons to school.

Mukesh and his brother make bangles. The wife of Mukesh’s brother is a traditional daughter-in-law who follows the customs and cooks food for the family. The grandmother believes in destiny and caste. Only Mukesh shows some sparks of fighting the system and declares that he wants to be a motor mechanic.

Savita, the elderly woman and her old, bearded husband from the other family. Young and innocent Savita works mechanically. The elderly woman highlights the plight of bangle-makers who fail to enjoy even one full meal during the entire lifetime. The old man has an achievement to his credit. He has made a house for the family to live in. He has a roof over his head.

The lifestyle, problems and economic conditions of the two families are similar. There is only a difference of degree but not of kind in their existence and response to life’s problems.

Reading Comprehension (Textual)

Read the following passages and select the most appropriate options as answers to the questions given below them:
Question 1.
My acquaintance with the barefoot ragpickers leads me to Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically. Those who live here are squatters who came from Bangladesh back in 1971. Saheb’s family is among them. Seemapuri was then a wilderness. It still is, but it is no longer empty. In structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or running water, live 10,000 ragpickers.

They have lived here for more than thirty years without an identity, without permits but with ration cards that get their names on voters’ lists and enable them to buy grain. Food is more important for survival than an identity. “If at the end of the day we can feed our families and go to bed without an aching stomach, we would rather live here than in the fields that gave us no grain,” say a group of women in tattered saris when I ask them why they left their beautiful land of green fields and rivers. Wherever they find food, they pitch their tents that become transit homes.

Children grow up in them, becoming partners in survival. And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art. Garbage to them is gold. It is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. But for a child, it is even more.

Questions:
1. “Seemapuri is yet miles away from Delhi, metaphorically”. One of the following sentences explains this briefly. Pick it out.
A. Seemapuri is quite distant from Delhi.
B. Seemapuri is underdeveloped, uncultured in comparison to Delhi.
C. Seemapuri is a home-place for ragpickers only.
D. None of these three
Answer:
B. Seemapuri is underdeveloped, uncultured in comparison to Delhi.

2. The phrase ‘without an aching stomach’ here means ………………… .
A. ‘without any physical disorder’.
B. ‘without any trouble’.
C. ‘with stomach full’.
D. ‘without taking sleeping pills.
Answer:
C. ‘with stomach full’.

3. The words ‘land of green fields and rivers’ refer to the land of …………………………. .
A. Kolkata.
B. Bangladesh.
C. Delhi.
D. Pakistan.
Answer:
B. Bangladesh.

4. ‘Garbage is gold’ for the residents of Seemapuri because it gives them ……………………… .
A. food to eat.
B. a shelter to live in.
C. money to start their own industry.
D. Both ‘A’ and ‘B’
Answer:
D. Both ‘A’ and ‘B’

Question 2.
One winter morning I see Saheb standing by the fenced gate of the neighbourhood club, watching two young men dressed in white, playing tennis. “I like the game,” he hums, content to watch it standing behind the fence. “I go inside when no one is around,” he admits. “The gatekeeper lets me use the swing.”Saheb too is wearing tennis shoes that look strange over his discoloured shirt and shorts.

“Someone gave them to me,” he says in the manner of an explanation. The fact that they are discarded shoes of some rich boy, who perhaps refused to wear them because of a hole in one of them, does not bother him. For one who has walked barefoot, even shoes with a hole is a dream come true. But the game he is watching so intently is out of his reach.

This morning, Saheb is on his way to the milk booth. In his hand is a steel canister. “I now work in a tea stall down the road,” he says, pointing in the distance. “I am paid 800 rupees and all my meals.” Does he like the job? I ask. His face, I see, has lost the carefree look. The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulder. The bag was his. The canister belongs to the man who owns the teashop. Saheb is no longer his own master!
Questions:
1. Saheb is satisfied with ……………………. .
A. just watching tennis being played.
B. just having a ride on the swing.
C. entering the club with the permission of the watchman.
D. entering the club without the permission of the watchman.
Answer:
A. just watching tennis being played.

2. ………………………….. is ‘out of reach’ for Saheb.
A. Tennis shoes
B. Game of Tennis
C. Nice clothes.
D. The milk booth.
Answer:
B. Game of Tennis

3. What was wrong with the tennis shoes?
A. They were given by some rich boy.
B. They were discarded ones.
C. In one of them there was a hole.
D. They did not suit him over his discoloured shirt and shorts.
Answer:
C. In one of them there was a hole.

4. ‘His face, I see, has lost the carefree look’. These words suggest that ………………………….. .
A. Saheb was not happy with that job.
B. Saheb had not taken bath that day.
C. Saheb was ill.
D. Saheb had not washed his face.
Answer:
A. Saheb was not happy with that job.

Question 3.
“Why not organise yourselves into a cooperative ?” I ask a group of young men who have fallen into the vicious circle of middlemen who trapped their fathers and forefathers. “Even if we get organised, we are the ones who will be hauled up by the police, beaten and dragged to jail for doing something illegal,” they say. There is no leader among them, no one who could help them see things differently.

Their fathers are as tired as they are. They talk endlessly in a spiral that moves from poverty to apathy to greed and to injustice. Listening to them, I see two distinct worlds – one of the family, caught in a web of poverty, burdened by the stigma of caste in which they are born; the other a vicious circle of the sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians. Together they have imposed the baggage on the child that he cannot put down. Before he is aware, he accepts it as naturally as his father.

To do anything else would mean to dare. And daring is not part of his growing up. When I sense a flash of it in Mukesh I am cheered. “I want to be a motor mechanic,’ he repeats. He will go to a garage and learn. But the garage is a long way from his home. “I will walk,” he insists. “Do you also dream of flying a plane?” He is suddenly silent. “No,” he says, staring at the ground. In his small murmur, there is an embarrassment that has not yet turned into regret. He is content to dream of cars that he sees hurtling down the streets of his town. Few aeroplanes fly over Firozabad.
Questions :
1. The meaning of the phrase ‘hauled up’ is ……………………… .
A. ‘punished’.
B. ‘tortured’.
C. ‘arrested’.
D. ‘supported’.
Answer:
C. ‘arrested’.

2. The ‘baggage on the child’ is ………………………… .
A. ‘force the profession on the child’.
B. ‘the load of the bag full of rags’.
C. ‘the debts that their parents have incurred’.
D. None of these three.
Answer:
A. ‘force the profession on the child’.

3. What is different with Mukesh?
A. He dreams of flying a plane.
B. He wants to be a motor mechanic.
C. He does not want to be seized to be a ragpicker.
D. Both ‘B’ and ‘C’.
Answer:
C. He does not want to be seized to be a ragpicker.

4. Mukesh is content to…
A. become a pilot.
B. become a car driver.
C. become a car owner.
D. become a motor mechanic.
Answer:
D. become a motor mechanic.

GRAMMAR

Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks choosing the correct words given in the brackets and write the answers only:
Question 1.
(squatters, structures, periphery, barefoot, drainage, wilderness, acquaintance, metaphorically)
My …1…. with the …2.. rag-pickers leads me to Seemapuri, a place on the …..3….. of Delhi yet miles away from it, …4… Those who live here are …..5…… who came from Bangladesh back in 1971. Saheb’s family is among them. Seemapuri was then a ……6….. It still is, but it is no longer empty. In ……..7…… of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, 8 or running water, live 10,000 rag pickers.
Answer:
1. acquaintance
2. barefoot
3. periphery
4. metaphorically
5. squatters
6. wilderness
7. structures
8. drainage

Question 2.
(discarded, discoloured, intently, strange, barefoot, explanation, wearing, refused)
Saheb too is ….1….. tennis shoes that look ……2….. over his ……3…… shirt and shorts. “Someone gave them to me,” he says in the manner of an ……..4…… The fact that they are …..5…… shoes of some rich boy, who perhaps ……6…… to wear them because of a hole in one of them, does not bother him. For one who has walked …..7….. even shoes with a hole is a dream come true. But the game he is watching so …8……. is out of his reach.
Answer:
1. wearing
2. strange
3. discoloured
4. explanation
5. discarded
6. refused
7. barefoot
8. intently

Choose the correct meanings of the phrases/ idioms and rewrite the sentences:

1. I had a hard time being a witness in a trial in the court, (an unusual experience, a difficult experience, a happy experience)
2. The landscape seems to be devoid of life. (completely without, filled with, surrounded by)
3. The recent unrest in the city is born out of years of neglect of the city’s poor neighbourhoods, (is caused for, has occurred because of, has resulted from)
4. It suddenly dawned on me that I hadn’t eaten all day. (got forgotten, came to my realisation, missed out)
Answer:
1. I had a difficult experience being a witness in a trial in the court.
2. The landscape seems to be completely without life.
3. The recent unrest in the city has occurred because of years of neglect of the city’s poor neighbourhoods.
4. It suddenly came to my realisation that I hadn’t eaten all day.

Rectification of Errors

Rectify the errors in the following text:
Question 1.
A young boy dressing in a grey uniform, ‘ wore socks and shoes, arrived panting and threw his school bag on a folded bed. Looking ‘ at the boy, I remembered a prayer the other boy had made to the Goddess.
Answer:

Question 2.
Mukesh’s family is between them. None of them know that it is illegal for children like him to work in the glass furnaces in high temperatures, in dingy cells with air and light.
Answer:

Punctuation

Punctuate the following passage:
I like the game he hums content to watch it standing behind the fence I go inside when no one is around he admits the gatekeeper lets me use the swing
Ans. “I like the game,” he hums, content to watch it standing behind the fence. “I go inside when no one is around,” he admits. “The gatekeeper lets me use the swing.”

Indirect Speech

Convert the following into Indirect Speech:
“Go to school,” I said glibly.
“There is no school in my neighbourhood. When they build one, I will go.”
“If I start a school, will you come?” I asked, half-joking. “Yes,” he said, smiling broadly.
A few days later I saw him running up to me. “Is your school ready?”
Answer:
I asked him glibly to go to school. He replied that there was no school in his neighbourhood. Then he expressed his willingness that when they built one, he would go. I asked him, half-joking if he would come if I started a school. Smiling broadly he replied that he would surely come. A few days later I saw him running up to me and asked if my school was ready.

Transformation of Sentences

Rewrite as directed:
1. He does not know what it means. (Turn into Simple.)
2. Even if she did he will throw them off. (Use ‘In spite of’.)
3. The goddess had granted his prayer. (Change the Voice.)
4. Food is more important for survival than an identity. (Change the Degree.)
5. You don’t stop scrounging, for there is hope of finding more. (Use ‘Since’.)
6. I go inside when no one is around. (Turn into Affirmative.)
7. The gatekeeper lets me use the swing. (Use ‘allow’.)
Answer:
1. He does not know its meaning.
2. In spite of her doing, he will throw them off.
3. His prayer had been granted by the goddess.
4. An identity is not so important as food for survival.
5. Since there is hope of finding more, you don’t stop scrounging.
6.1 go inside when there is hardly anyone around.
7. The gatekeeper allows me to use the swing.

Writing:

Question 1.
Interview was conducted by Researcher on garbage collectors and scrap buyers in Delhi. Make notes for the same.
Answer:
Note-Making
Garbage collectors and Scrap buyers
1. Source of Information Interview by Researchers

• Garbage collectors
• Scrap buyers

2. Garbage collectors

• Laborious task.
• No, fix working hours
• Haphazard collection
• Categorising garbage / Scrap of like substances in sacks.
• Selling garbage / Scrap to dealers

3. Economical status of garbage collectors.
A. Income below poverty line.
B. Partial payment by buyers.
C. Housing facilities

• Shelters of bamboo structures
• Use of plastic sheet

4. Scrap buyers

• buy sorted scrap
• payment to collectors according to weight of sacks.
• partial payments of wages for daily expenses.
• the rest withheld as deposits to be paid at later date.

Report:

Question 1.
Dana Kornberg Ph. D., University of Michigan conducted research on unorganized sectors, such as garbage pickers. Prepare a report after collecting the views of garbage pickers and scrap buyers.
Answer:
Predicament of Garbage Pickers Research on the views of garbage pickers and scrap buyers, an unorganized sector, was conducted by Dana Kornberg Ph. D. of Michigan University. Some shocking facts about these workers were disclosed. These workers who are responsible for keeping the city clean and reducing pollution to a large extent.

It was found that these workers collected garbage, such as plastics, bottles and containers of many products, and accumulated it at a fixed point. Their hours of work was not fixed. The scrap was then sorted out by them and collected in sacks according to their category.

These garbage sacks were like gold to scrap buyers. They paid the workers according to the weight of the sack full of scrap. But it was very unfortunate that the workers were given only partial payment. The rest of the amount was added to their deposit. The copy of the report was handed over to the NGOs and the government authorities for their appraisal.

Lost Spring Summary in English

Lost Spring Introduction:

Anees Jung (Born 1964) is an Indian woman author, journalist and a columnist for major newspapers in India and abroad, whose most noted work, Unveiling India (1987) was a detailed chronicle of the lives of women in India, noted especially for the detailed depiction of Muslim women behind the veil.

Lost Spring Summary:
I-Sometimes I find a rupee in the garbage.
The first part tells the writer’s impressions about the life of the’ poor rag pickers. The rag pickers have migrated from Dhaka and found a settlement in Seemapuri. Their fields and homes had been swept away by storms. They had come to the big city to find a living. They are poor.

The writer watches Saheb every morning scrounging for ‘gold’ in her neighbourhood. Garbage is a means of survival for the elders and for the children it is something wrapped in wonder. The children come across a coin or two from it. These people have desires and ambitions, but they do not know the way to achieve them. There are quite a few things that are unreachable to them, namely shoes, tennis and the like. Later Saheb joins a tea stall where he could earn 800 Rupees and all the meals. The job has taken away his freedom.

II-I want to drive a car.
The second part deals with the life of Mukesh, who belongs to the family of Bangle-makers. Firozabad is best known for its glass-blowing industry. Nearly 20,000 children are engaged in this business and the law that forbids child labour is not known here. The living condition and the working environment is a woeful tale. Life in dingy cells and working close to hot furnaces make these children blind when they step into the adulthood. Weighed down by the debt, they can neither think nor find a way to come out of this trap.

The politicians, middlemen, policemen and bureaucrats will all obstruct their way of progress. The women in the household consider it as their fate and just follow the tradition. Mukesh is different from the rest of the folk there. He dreams to become a motor mechanic. The garage is far away from his house but he shall walk. She comes across Mukesh in Firozabad.