Get AHSEC Class 12 Lost Spring Question answers prepared as per academic session 2025. HS 2nd Year Lost Spring Solution with most important questions can be a great resource for your preparation.
About Class 12 English Chapter 2 Lost Spring
These excerpts are taken from the author’s book Lost Spring: Stories of Stolen Childhood. The 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 rag pickers of Seemapuri. The second part describes the miserable conditions of the bangle-makers of Firozabad.
Assam Board Class 12 English Notes for 2025 Exam
CHAPTER 2: LOST SPRING
Very Short Questions Answers (1 Marks)
1. Who is the author of ‘Lost Spring’?(AHSEC 2012, 2014)
ANS: Anees Jung is the author of ‘Lost Spring
2. What does Mukesh want to be? (AHSEC 2012, 2015)
ANS: Mukesh wants to be a motor mechanic.
3. What is ‘Lost Spring’ about? (AHSEC 2013)
ANS: ‘Lost Spring’ is about two poor Indian children Saheb and Mukesh who owing to the grinding poverty had to lose their childhood happiness for the sake of supporting their family.
4. Where was the original home of Saheb’s family? (AHSEC 2013)
ANS: The original home of Saheb is in Dhaka.
5. What does the author of ‘Lost Spring’ find Saheb doing every morning? (AHSEC 2014, 2015)
ANS: The author of The Lost Spring finds Sahebs scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps every morning.
6. What does Saheb look for in the garbage dumps? (AHSEC 2016)
ANS: Saheb scrounges the garbage dumps to find something that is valuable which the author refers to as ‘gold’.
7. Where has Saheb come from?
ANS: Saheb has come from Dhaka, Bangladesh. (HS 2016)
8. What does ‘garbage’ mean for the elders of Seemapuri? (AHSEC 2017)
ANS: For the elders ‘garbage’ is a means of survival.
9. Where does Mukesh live? (AHSEC 2017)
ANS: Mukesh lives in Firozabad. His house is in one of the foul-smelling towns with garbage strewn all around.
10. Why have Saheb and his family migrated to Seemapuri? (AHSEC 2018)
ANS: The storm had swept away Saheb’s home and green fields in Dhaka. Hence, he and his family had migrated to Seemapuri.
11. What is the original book from which this prose piece is an excerpt?
ANS: The prose piece is an excerpt from the book ‘Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood’.
12. Who is Saheb?
ANS: Saheb is a young ragpicker, who scrounges the garbage dumps on the streets of Delhi for his living. He was, however, inally from Dhaka.
13. Whom does the author encounter every day in the street
Ans: Every day, the author encounters a young ragpicker, Saheb in the street.
14. What does Saheb do every day?
ANS: Every day, Saheb scrounges the garbage dumps on the streets of Delhi in order to find something valuable.
15. What is Saheb’s full name?
ANS: Saheb’s full name is Saheb-e-Alam, which means ‘lord of the universe’.
16. What is the meaning of Saheb’s full name?
ANS: The meaning of Saheb-e-Alam is ‘lord of the universe’.
17. Whom does Saheb observe standing at the fenced gate of the neighborhood club?
ANS: Saheb stands at the fenced gate of the neighborhood club and observes two young men, dressed in white clothes, playing tennis.
18. What is Saheb wearing?
ANS: Saheb is wearing a discolored shirt and shorts and also a pair of tennis shoes with a hole in one of them.
19. Where is Seemapuri?
ANS: Seemapuri is a place on the periphery of Delhi.
20. How much does Saheb earn from his new job in the Tea stall?
ANS: Saheb earns Rs 800, along with all his meals from his new job at the tea stall.
21. Who is Savita? [AHSEC 2024]
ANS:- Savita is a young girl who does the work of soldering pieces of glass. She wears a drab pink dress.
Short Answer Questions (2 Marks)
1. Is Saheb happy working in the tea stall? Why? (AHSEC 2012, 2014)
Ans: No, Saheb is not happy working at the tea stall) The plastic bags he used to carry were lighter than the steel canister he carries now. Earlier he was his own master and now he a mere was servant as the tea stall and steel canister all belonged to his master.
2. What is the significance of bangles in an Indian society? (AHSEC 2012, 2017)
Ans:-In an Indian society, the bangle is symbolic of a married Indian woman’s ‘suhaag’ (auspiciousness in marriage. An Indian bride invariably wears red bangles on their wrists
3.’Garbage to them is gold. Why does the author say so about the ragpickers? (AHSEC 2013)
Ans: Garbage is gold to the ragpickers of Seemapuri because s it provides them with items that can be sold for cash, which can buy them food, and is a means of survival. Moreover, it is gold also because the ragpickers can find stray coins and currency notes in it.
4. What is the irony inherent in Saheb’s full name?(HS 2013, 2016)
Ans:- Saheb’s full name, Saheb-e-Alam, suggests that he is the lord of the Universe. But in reality, he is merely a poor rag picker who lives in Seemapuri and does a great deal of rag picking on daily basis for his survival.
5.What does Saheb look for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he come from? (HS 2014)
Ans:Saheb looks for gold in the garbage dumps. Saheb looks for some bits of wounderful findings like currency note in the garbage dumps.
6.Is Saheb happy working in the tea stall? Why? (HS 2014)
ANS: No, Saheb is not happy working at the tea-stall. The plastic bags he used to carry were lighter than the steel canister he carries now. Earlier he was his own master and now a mere servant as the tea-stall and steel canister all belonged to his master.
7.What explanation does the author of ‘Lost Spring’ offer for the children not wearing footwear? (AHSEC 2015)
ANS:One explanation offered by the author is that it is a tradition to stay barefoot. It is not lack of money. He wonders if this is only an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty. He also remembers the story of a poor body who prayed to the goddess for a pair of shoes. bog
8. What is Firozabad famous for and why? (AHSEC 2015)
ANS: Firozabad is famous for bangles and bangle making. All kinds of bangle in all the colours remain available there round the clock. Each and every family of Firozabad is engaged in the business of bangle making. All these things make Firozabad very famous.
9. Why do the young inhabitants of Firozabad end up losing their eye-sight? aheng (AHSEC 2016)
ANS: In every house, in every street of Firozabad bangles are being made. In dark hutments boys and girls sit with their fathers and mothers welding pieces of coloured glass into circles of bangles. Their eyes become more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. That is why they often end up losing their eyesigh even before they become adults.
10. What are the two different worlds in Firozabad?(AHSEC 2018)
ANS: The narrator finds two distinct worlds in Firozabad. The first one is of the families of the bangle-makers caught in perpetual web of poverty. The other is the vicious circle of the ‘Sahukars’ the middlemen, the policemen and the politicians who ensure the perpetual exploitation of these bangle makers.
11. What was the promise made by Anees Jung to Saheb? (AHSEC 2018)
ANS: The writer, Anees Jung, promised Saheb to open her own school and let Saheb study in it but she could not keep it as it is not easy to open a school in a day or two. She makes a hollow promise to boy which makes her feel embarrassed time and again.
12. What is Saheb’s explanation as to why he scrounged for gold in the heaps of garbage dumps?
ANS: When Saheb was asked as to why he scrounged for gold in the heap of garbage dumps, he replied that he did the work because he had nothingelse to do. He didn’t go to school as there was none in his neighbourhood.
13. What is the author’s reply to Saheb’s explanation?
ANS: When Saheb explained that he had no other work to do except for scrounging gold in the heap of garbage dumps, the author asked him why he had not gone to any school.
14. Why does the advice sound hollow?
ANS: When Saheb said that he had no other work to do except for scrounging gold in the heaps of slumps, the author advised him to go to school. This advice sounded quit hollow because there was no school in the neighbourhood of Saheb. Moreover, Saheb’s economic condition was not that strong that his family could efford him to send to a school.
15. Why is the author embarrassed?
ANS: When the author advised Saheb, a ragpicker to go to school, the latter replied that there was none in their neighborhood. The author then half-jokingly asked Saheb to join the school which she would start. After that, one day Saheb eagerly asked the author if her school was ready. This made the author embarassed for making promise that she didnot mean.
16.Write a short note on the significance of the title, ‘Lost Spring’. [AHSEC 2024]
ANS:– The title ‘Lost Spring’ holds significance as it reflects the plight of migrant children who work in glass-blowing factories in Firozabad, India. Their childhood is lost due to poverty and exploitation.
17. How does Saheb’s life change when he starts working at the tea-stall? [AHSEC 2024]
ANS:- When Saheb starts working at the tea-stall, his life undergoes significant changes. Saheb gains financial stability with a regular income of 800 rupees. His meals are provided, addressing the issue of food scarcity. However, the once carefree expression on his face fades. Carrying the steel canister feels burdensome, and the weight of responsibility weighs heavily on him. Saheb is no longer the master of his own time; he may have to work longer hours, and the helplessness of not acting according to his own will saddens him.
LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS (5 Marks)
1. Describe the miserable plight of the people of Firozabad. (AHSEC 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017)
ANS: Firozabad is the center of India’s glass blowing industry where families have spent generations working around the furnace. They work in small cells without air and light. Children slog their daylight hours round these furnaces instead of going to school. They often lose eyesight due to this, before they become adults. They live around stinking lanes choked with garbages, in homes having crumbling walls, crowded with families of humans and animals coexisting together. Spirals of bangles, of different colours, lie in mounds, piled in four-wheeled carts. Beside the flickering oil lamps, sit boys and girls welding pieces of bangles. Inspite of this lifelong hardwork, they are trapped in poverty and the burden of this impoverished life is imposed on them generation after generation.
2. Describe the bangle makers of Firozabad. How does the vicious circle of the Sahukars, the middlemen never allow them to come out of their poverty? (AHSEC 2018)
ANS: The bangle makers of Firozabad have spent generations working around furnaces. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. They sit around lamps welding glass, making bangles for all the women in the land.
These families are caught in the web of poverty. These families, ensnared in the cycle of poverty, carry the weight of caste-based discrimination. Their belief in their predetermined caste assigns bangle making as their ancestral occupation, seemingly immutable. Fearful of police intervention, they are unable to unite into cooperatives.Individual bangle makers are always cought in the vicious circle of the middlemen and the sahukars. This vicious circle exploits them so much that they are left with so less money that they have only enough to engage in bangle making. They cannot afford to have two meals a day. Thus they live in abject poverty.
3. Who was Saheb and what was ironical about his name? Describe Saheb’s life and the life of the barefoot army of ragpickers in Seemapuri.
ANS: Saheb is a rag picker from Seemapuri. The irony that lies in his name is that, he is deprived of every pleasure in life but his name ‘Saheb-e-Alam’ means lord of the universe.Saheb and the army of rag pickers appear like the morning birds and disappear at noon. They move about in the city roads collecting rags barefooted. Their families are squatters who come from Bangladesh. They stay in structures of mud with roof of tin and tarpaulin. Without any proper sewage, drainage or drinking water, these families live in hellish conditions. They live without any identity, without any permits but with ration cards that get their names on voters’ list and enables them to buy grains. They believed that it was better to live in such conditions with two meals than to live in their own land without food.
4. Give a brief account of life and activities of the people like Saheb-e-Alam settled in Seemapuri.
ANS: The author’s acquaintance with Saheb and other barefoot ragpickers introduced her to Seemapuri. It is a slum area located on the periphery of Delhi. The residents of Secmapuri consist of people who left Bangladesh in the 1971 War and are basically refugees. Saheb’s family is among them. The area does not have facilities of sewage, drainage or running water. About 10000 ragpickers live here. Their only means of livelihood is ragpicking, and they treat rags as valuable as gold. These ragpickers have lived here for more than thirty years without any identity. They do not have permits but have ration cards, with which they can get their names on the voter’s list and also buy grains at subsidised rates.
5. ‘Lost Spring’ explains the grinding poverty and traditions that condemn thousands of people to a life of abject poverty. Do you agree? Why/Why not?
ANS: ‘Lost Spring’ is a good narration of grinding poverty and traditions to which thousands of people have succumbed. The story revolves around the pitiable condition of poor children who have been forced to live in slums and work hard in dirty conditions. The story is divided into two parts. The first part tells the writer’s impression about the life of poor ragpickers who have migrated froin Bangladesh, but now have settled in the Seemapuri area of Delhi.
The second part narrates the miserable life of the bangle makers in the town of Firozabad. The stark reality of these families is that in spite of back-breaking hard work that they put in, they cannot have two square meals a day. Besides, they are victims of exploitation by those above them and also suffer the consequences of blind belief in traditions.
6. Describe the condition of Seema Puri. [AHSEC 2024]
ANS: Seema Puri, situated on the outskirts of Delhi, is a place of squalor and destitution. Originally settled by squatters from Bangladesh in 1971, it remains a wilderness devoid of basic amenities. Housing consists of makeshift structures made of mud, tin, and tarpaulin, lacking sewage, drainage, or running water. Despite living there for over three decades, residents lack formal identity or permits. However, they possess ration cards for essential provisions. Survival is prioritised over identity, as indicated by their endurance despite the harsh living conditions. Garbage collection and scavenging have become indispensable for sustenance, with children often joining their parents in this endeavour.
Also Read: AHSEC Class 12 English Complete Solution 2025
Last Words
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