Flamingo Class 12 ch.2 Lost Spring part 1'Sometimes I find a rupee in the garbage': By Anees Jung

 Flamingo / Class:12/ Ch.2/ Lost Spring 

Part:1/ INTRODUCTION/ THEME / MESSAGE/ SUMMARY / QUESTIONS ANSWERS / QUESTIONS FOR PRACTICE

              PREPARED BY: SUJEET KUMA

LOST SPRING: PART: 1

Sometimes I find a Rupee In the garbage

        by: Anees Jung

INTRODUCTION

Sometimes I find a Rupee In the garbage by Anees Jung is an excerpt from her book titled Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen childhood.  

The excerpt, on the one hand, presents the story of a young boy who is a poor ragpicker and on the other hand analyses the grinding poverty and traditions which confines the children of ragpickers' family to the circle of exploitation.

THEME

The plight of Street children forced into labour early in life and denied the opportunity of schooling.

MESSAGE

We can't change our life unless we have a unbreakable perpetual desire for it. If we want improved circumstances and better life ,we have to men with improved self.

DETAILED SUMMARY

* Narrator encounters Saheb every morning Scrounging for something valuable in the garbage dumps in her neighbourhood.

* Saheb was from Dhaka, Bangladesh. His family had a home and fields there which were swept away in many storms. His family became homeless and jobless. They left Dhaka and came to India in search of a home and livelihood.

* Saheb doesn't go to school because there is no school in his neighbourhood. But he is desirous of going to school when there will be a school in his neighbourhood.

* Saheb's full name is Saheb - e - Alam which means- Lord of the Universe, the one who has abundance of everything.

* But contrary to his name, Saheb has nothing. He roams the streets with his friends from morning to noon picking rags in the garbage dumps.

* Saheb and other rag pickers across the country in cities or village roads walk barefoot. It is not due to lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot and explain away a perpetual state of poverty.

* The narrator tells us a story which a man from Udipi once told her. The story is about the son of a priest who while going to school, stop briefly at a temple and pray for a pair of shoes. Thirteen years later, when the narrator visited the town and found the son of the priest in  socks and shoes. The narrator comments that the son of the priest finally got his shoes but many other like rag pickers in her neighbourhood still walk barefoot.

* The narrator visits Seemapuri - a place on the periphery of Delhi. The squatters who who came from Bangladesh back in 1971, live here. Saheb's family is among them.

* Seemapuri is a crowed place . In structure of mud with roof of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or running Water live 10,000 rag pickers.

* They have leaved here for more than 30 years without identity, without permit; but they have ration cards that get there names on voters' list and enable them to buy grain.

* Food for them is more important than identity. where ever they find food, they pitch their tent that become transit home.

* Children grew up in them, becoming partners in survival and survival in Seemapuri means rag picking.

* Rag picking has acquired the proportion of a fine art. Garbage for them is as precious as gold. They get there daily bread and a roof over their head out of it.

* For a child garbage is all the more important. Saheb tells that sometimes he finds a Rupee , even a ten rupee note. The narrator comments that when one can find a silver coin in a heap of garbage , one cannot stop scrounging; for there is hope of finding more. For a children garbage has a meaning different from what it means to the parents. For the children it is wrapped in wonders, for the elders it is a means of survival.

* One winter morning, the narrator sees Saheb standing by the fenced gate of the neighborhood club watching two young men playing tennis.

* Saheb expresses his likeness for the game and wants to play. Saheb is wearing a pair of tennis shoes with holes discarded by some rich boy. The narrator comments that for a young boy who has walked barefoot even shoes with a hole is like a dream come true 

* One morning the narrator sees Saheb walking to a milk booth with a steel canister in his hand. He tells narrator that he has stopped rag picking and started working in a tea stall for a monthly salary of Rs. 800.

* When narrator asks whether he is happy with his job ‌, his face fades. The narrator comments that the steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly on his shoulder. The bag was his , the canister belongs to the man who owns the tea shop. Saheb is no longer his own master.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS - ANSWERS

30 - 40 WORDS LENGTH

Question 1.

What does the writer mean when she says, ‘Saheb is no longer his own master’? (Delhi 2000)

Answer:

Through the given statement the writer means to say that as a salaried staff Saheb is no longer the master of his will. He has now to work according to the way the owner of the tea stall wants. Earlier he was free to work according to his own way. But now he diesn't have such freedom. He is burdened with obedience. The steel canister he carries is very heavy as compared to his light plastic bag. The bag was his own and the canister belongs to his master whose orders he now has to follow. So he is no longer his own master.

Question 2.

What does the title, ‘Lost Spring’ convey? (All India 2000)

Answer:

In the title ‘Lost' means missing or something which has gone off and  'Spring’refers the best part of a human life that is childhood.

'Lost Spring' thus conveys the information about the unfortunate plight of millions of children in India who are forced to work and earn in early childhood in order to become partners in family's survival because of perpetual state of poverty. They don't go to school. They are not free to recreate and manage their lives according to their own way.The best phase of their life is lost in the hardships and doing work  to earn their livelihood  which hampers their growth.

In the Story we have two such children named Saheb -e - Alam and Mukesh whose childhood is stolen by poverty .

Question 3

Garbage has two different meanings—one for the children and another for the adults. Comment. (Comptt. All India 2012)

Answer:

According to Anees Jung, for children garbage has a different meaning from what it means to the adults. For the children it is wrapped in wonder, their eyes light-up when they find a rupee or a ten-rupee note in it. They search the garbage excitedly with the hope of finding something more. But for the elders it is a means of survival.

Question 4.

Survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. , Comment. (Comptt. All India 2013)

Answer:

According to Anees Jung 10,000 family of rag pickers live in Seemapuri which is on the periphery of Delhi. They have lived here for more than 30 years without identity but with a ration cards that gets their name in voters' list and enable them to buy grain. Food for them is more important than identity. Where ever they get food they pitch their tent that become transit home. children grow up in them becoming partners in survival. For survival they need food and a roof over their head which they get only through rag-picking. 

Question 5.

It is ‘a tradition to stay barefoot ‘ What is the attitude of the rag-pickers of Seemapuri towards wearing shoes? (Comptt. All India 2013)

Answer:

The rag-pickers of Seemapuri have different attitudes towards wearing shoes. One boy says that he has shoes and wanted to wear but his mother didn't bring them down from the shelf. One boy does not feel like wearing shoes. Another boy who has never owned a pair of shoes all his life wants them. But the author feels it its not lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot for these poor people.

LONG QUESTIONS ANSWERS

Question 1

In 1971 Bangladeshi migrants came to Delhi ‘looking for gold in the big city’. What kind of life are they living in Seemapuri now?

(Comptt. Delhi 2012)

Answer:

They are living a life of abject poverty now. Losing their homes, fields and jobs because of the Indo - Pak war in 197, they migrated to India as refugees in the hope of a better life prospect which remained merely a dream unfulfilled. 

They settled in Seemapuri - a periphery of Delhi. As the writer describes, they live in structures of mud with roof of tin and tarpaulin devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. All if them get their livelihood by rag- pickings.They have no identity but they do have valid ration cards that enable them to buy grain. Food is more important for them than identity. Where ever they get food they pitch their tent.Children here grow up to become partners in survival to their parents and survival in Seemapuri means ragpicking.  An army of barefoot children roams in streets from morning to noon carrying  plastic bags on their shoulder.They are forced to live a life of abject poverty that results in the loss of childhood innocence.

The writer gives an account of a young ragpicker of Seemapuri named  Saheb who roames in the streets, scrounging for garbage, barefoot and deprived of education. Later he starts working in a tea stall but he loses his freedom and carefree life as he is no longer his own master.

Question:2

‘Garbage to them is gold’. How do ragpickers of Seemapuri survive? (Delhi 2017)

Answer:

For the ragpickers of Seemapuri, garbage is as precious as gold. They earn their daily bread and a roof over their head by ragpickings. It is their only means of livelihood and survival. 

For the innocent children garbage is wrapped in wonder as they marvel at the prospect of finding a coin, a currency note or a curio that sustains their hope. These children grow up to become partners in survival with their parents. 

Seemapuri houses around 10,000 ragpickers mostly Bangladeshi refugees, who have lived there for more than thirty years without an identity and without permits. They have ration cards that get their names on voters'list and enable them to buy grain. Food is more important for them than identity. They live in mud structures with roofs made of tin and tarpaulin. 

QUESTIONS FOR PRACTICE

Q.1. Describe the life of squatters at Seemapuri. (Comptt. All India 2010)

( long answer)

Q.2. Why did Saheb become a ragpicker? What did j he look for in the garbage dumps? (Comptt. Delhi 2010) [ Long Answer ]

Q.3. In what sense is garbage gold to the ragpickers? (Comptt. All India 2014)

( Short Answer )

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