Summary of Lost Spring
‘Lost Spring’ is a portrayal of how poverty affects childhood. The writer, Anees Jung, has focused on children living in slums under inhuman conditions that affect not only their childhood but also their future as adults. This leads to further deterioration of their subsequent generations. The chapter talks about two boys, Saheb and Mukesh, who dream about becoming something better in life or achieving basic human rights like education. But the writer also shows how the society around them is full of forces that only try to preserve and prolong their present conditions. The Lost Spring summary is a part of the CBSE Summaries we provide. Students can also access other materials and information about CBSE English syllabus at CBSE Notes on BYJU’S official website.
CBSE Class 12 English Lost Spring Summary
‘Lost Spring’, written by Indian writer Anees Jung, is an excerpt from her book ‘Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood’. In it, she analyses the lives of children living in poverty. This chapter presents stories about two children who face poverty in all aspects of their lives and yet have the courage to dream big. The writer, Anees Jung, is the narrator in both stories in the chapter.
‘Sometimes I Find a Rupee in the Garbage’
The narrator talks about a boy named Saheb. He is a ragpicker whom the narrator sees every morning. She talks to him and finds out that he came from Dhaka long back when, according to his mother, his house was swept away by storms. That was the reason why his family had come here to earn a living. The narrator asks him to join a school, but he replies that there is no school in his neighbourhood. The narrator promises him that she will start a school, and he is welcome there. Saheb’s face lights up. A few days later, Saheb comes up to the narrator, asking her if her school is ready. The narrator realises that promises like these are made to children like Saheb all the time, and they are never kept.
The narrator goes on to talk about how children in extreme poverty live and what the conditions surrounding them are like. She talks about how children walk barefoot on the streets, and the excuse given for this is that it’s a tradition to walk barefoot. She thinks that more than tradition, it might be an excuse to justify a continuous state of poverty. She remembers another incident where a man from Udipi told her that he used to pray for a pair of shoes at a temple in his childhood. Thirty years later, when the narrator visited the temple and the town, she could see a little boy walking in his shoes. Their prayers were answered.
To give us a background of Saheb, the narrator talks about Seemapuri – a place near Delhi where the ragpickers who came from Bangladesh in 1971 settled down. They have not been given any identities or permits. Only ration cards are given to them that help them eat food and vote for politicians. They are deprived of any other rights. Over the years, ragpicking has become an art for them. To a child like Saheb, finding a rupee or a ten rupee note is a big achievement. One day, she sees Saheb wearing a pair of tennis shoes. One of them had a hole in it, and it did not seem to bother him because it was a dream come true for a child who had always walked barefoot.
Later, the narrator sees Saheb with a steel canister in his hand. She learns that he has started working at a tea stall recently and is paid 800 rupees in addition to daily meals. When asked if he was happy with his new job, Saheb looked downcast. He was working under someone, and his freedom was taken away from him. He no longer had a carefree attitude, and the steel canister seemed heavier than the plastic bag that he used to carry for ragpicking.
‘I Want to Drive a Car’
This excerpt is about the fate of bangle makers in Firozabad. The author portrays the kind of poverty that looms over the houses and streets of bangle makers in this town. Mukesh, a young boy from Firozabad takes the narrator to his house, where she discovers the grim conditions under which the people work — around furnaces with high temperatures without proper air or light. They do not know that it is illegal for children to be working under these kinds of conditions.
The narrator observes that bangle-making is done by people belonging to a particular caste specialising in it. The art has been passed down from parents to their children for generations. Even after the whole family worked at the bangle factory, they remained poor. Mukesh’s family was not able to build a proper house yet. The same is the fate of other people living in this area. The sorrow and desperation of being unable to feed themselves even three proper meals daily reduced their courage to fight against the situation.
When asked why they cannot form a cooperative to improve their living conditions, they said they fear being beaten and hauled away by the police for doing something illegal. Their fathers and forefathers were trapped by middlemen. The younger generations are still paying the price for that. The bangle makers are downtrodden due to the poverty and stigma of their caste. The narrator points out the presence of a vicious circle here: The involvement of sahukars, policemen and middleman who do not let these people rise up in society.
Therefore no one dares to break away from this line of the profession, from this tragic world of poverty and suppression. Mukesh dreams of being a motor mechanic, and the narrator sees a flash of rebellion in his eyes. She asked him if he would like to be a pilot someday. Mukesh seemed embarrassed and replied that he was happy dreaming about being a motor mechanic. Flying a plane was a dream beyond his reach.
Conclusion of Lost Spring
The lost spring summary shows how we humans create a vicious circle of suppression and torture for our fellow human beings that leads to a social and economic imbalance in society. While one class of human beings get to enjoy the benefits of human rights and identity, another class of human beings is subjected to fear of entrapment and punishment with the wrongful use of socioeconomic politics. The most affected victims of these processes are innocent children who miss out on their rights as human beings, when they are employed before they come of age or are deprived of basic needs such as education, clothes, shelter and food. These children lead to another generation of impoverished and illiterate children — a vicious circle that keeps continuing till they are obliged to accept that it’s their fate.
Understanding the gist of the concepts involved in a piece of writing is very important to have a good grasp of literature. Students can find various other articles and materials related to CBSE English for better command over the syllabus. They can also find other related topics like grammar and writing on BYJU’S website.
