Lost Spring Stories of Stolen Childhood About the author | Class 12 English Notes
By ConceptScroll Team · Published on 17 July 2026 · 5 min read
Lost Spring Stories of Stolen Childhood About the author – this guide gives you a concise, exam-ready overview of Lost Spring Stories of Stolen Childhood About the author from Class 12 English, written by ConceptScroll editors and reviewed against the latest NCERT textbook.
'Sometimes I find a Rupee in the garbage'
This section introduces Saheb, a young boy who scavenges for valuables in garbage dumps in a city neighborhood. Saheb's family migrated from Dhaka due to natural calamities that destroyed their fields and homes. His mother recounts the storms that forced them to leave their green fields behind in search of survival in the city. Saheb's daily life revolves around scavenging, which he refers to as 'looking for gold' in the garbage. Despite the author's suggestion that he should attend school, Saheb explains there is no school nearby, and he would attend if one were built. This exchange highlights the lack of educational infrastructure for children like Saheb. The narrative also explores the barefoot condition of many ragpicker children, which is sometimes justified as tradition but more often reflects chronic poverty. Anees Jung recalls a story of a boy who prayed for shoes at a temple, symbolizing the deep desire for dignity and normalcy among impoverished children. The section further describes Seemapuri, a squatter settlement on Delhi's periphery, home to thousands of ragpickers including Saheb's family. These families live in mud and tin huts without basic amenities but choose this life over starving in their villages. Garbage is their livelihood and survival, yet for children, it holds a different meaning—hope and wonder. Saheb's fascination with tennis and the shoes he wears, though discarded, symbolize his dreams and the small joys amid hardship. However, his recent job at a tea stall marks a loss of freedom, as he is now bound to an employer. This poignant section reveals the harsh realities of child labor, poverty, and lost childhoods.
📊 Diagram: Photographs depict ragpicker children scavenging in garbage dumps, illustrating their harsh living conditions and the environment of Seemapuri.
🧪 Activity: Students are asked to infer meanings of expressions like 'scrounging for gold' and 'perpetual state of poverty' from the context.
🔗 Connection: Transitions to the story of Mukesh, another child laborer, highlighting different facets of child exploitation.
Frequently asked questions
Think as you read 1. What makes the city of Firozabad famous? 2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry. 3. How is Mukesh's attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
1. Firozabad is famous for its glass bangles industry. It is known as the city of glass bangles.
2. The hazards of working in the glass bangles industry include exposure to heat and smoke, risk of burns and injuries, poor working conditions, and health problems due to inhaling glass dust and chemicals.
3. Mukesh's attitude is different because he dares to dream of becoming a motor mechanic and wants to learn a skill that can help him improve his life. Unlike his family, who accept their povert
Understanding the text 1. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities? 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? 3. What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?
1. Reasons for migration include lack of employment opportunities in villages, poverty, search for better livelihood, and attraction of city jobs even if low-paying.
2. Yes, promises made to poor children are rarely kept because of systemic neglect, poverty, lack of education, and exploitation by society and authorities. In the text, children are forced into labour and denied schooling.
3. Forces include exploitation by middlemen and factory owners, lack of education, poor working conditions,
Talking about the text 1. How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream? 2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry. 3. Why should child labour be eliminated and how?
1. Mukesh can realise his dream by getting access to proper training in a garage, support from family and society, education, and opportunities to learn a trade. Government schemes and NGOs can help.
2. Hazards include exposure to heat, risk of burns, inhalation of harmful dust and chemicals, poor working conditions, and health risks.
3. Child labour should be eliminated because it deprives children of education, harms their health, and exploits them. It can be eliminated through strict laws,
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 airplanes 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.
1. Irony (contrast between meaning and reality) 2. Metaphor (air of desolation as drowning) 3. Metaphor (distance metaphorically) 4. Contrast/Metaphor 5. Simile (like the tongs of a machine) 6. Metaphor (light in eyes) 7. Symbolism/Metaphor (few airplanes symbolize lack of progress) 8. Metaphor (web of poverty) 9. Metaphor (scrounging for gold) 10. Hyperbole (rag-picking as fine art) 11. Simile/Comparison (steel canister heavier than plastic bag)
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