2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR 2
ANEES JUNG
ANEES JUNG IS AN INDIAN FEMALE AUTHOR, JOURNALIST AND COLUMNIST
WHO WRITES FOR MAJOR NEWSPAPERS IN INDIA AND ABROAD. SHE WAS
BORN IN ROURKELA AND BELONGS TO AN ARISTOCRATIC FAMILY IN
HYDERABAD. HER FATHER, NAWAB HOSHYAR JUNG, WHO WAS A
RENOWNED SCHOLAR AND POET, WORKED AS THE MUSAHIB (ADVISER) TO
THE LAST NIZAM (PRINCE) OF HYDERABAD STATE. AND HER MOTHER AND
BROTHER ARE ALSO WELL-KNOWN URDU POETS.
JUNG HIT THE HEADLINES WITH THE PUBLICATION OF ‘UNVEILING INDIA IN
1987’, WHICH IS PRIMARILY A TRAVEL DIARY THAT FOCUSES ON INTERVIEWS
WITH WOMEN. SHE WENT ON WRITE MANY SUBSEQUENT BOOKS ON THE
SAME TOPIC, AND TALKED TO WOMEN ABOUT THEIR EVERYDAY LIVES, AND
WROTE BOOKS LIKE ‘NIGHT OF THE NEW MOON: ENCOUNTERS WITH
MUSLIM WOMEN IN INDIA’ (1993) AND SEVEN SISTERS (1994). HER BOOK
‘BREAKING THE SILENCE (1997) INCLUDES CONVERSATIONS ON WOMEN’S
LIVES FROM AROUND THE WORLD.
3. 3
This chapter is divided into two parts.
The first part describes the plight of the poor rag pickers of FIROXAVThe
Second part describes the miserable conditions of the bangle-makers of
Firozabad.
First hand experience with poverty and traditions prevailing in some parts of
India.
The Title: Lost Spring: Stories of Stolen Childhood
The story, “Lost Spring” describes the pitiable condition of poor children
INTRODUCTION
4. The story begins with an interaction with Mukesh
Mukesh insists on being a Motor Mechanic
So Anees (Author) asks him if he knows anything about
cars
Mukesh replies no but he wants to learn to drive a car
the author feels that his dream is like a Mirage
The interaction engages readers
question arises in the minds of readers
‘why she finds the dream of Mukesh as a Mirage?’
5. Why the author felt so is because:
every second family engaged in the business of bangle
making
Firozabad - the centre of India's glass blowing industry
generations after generations have been involved in this
business
SDGHSFSDGlight
In such conditions Mukesh’s dream to be a motor mechanic is
mirage for author.
WHY THE DREAM IS A MIRAGE?
6. Mukesh volunteers to take the author home as his
house is being rebuilt
walk down stinking lanes choked with garbage
houses are small and dirty constructions with wobbly
doors with no windows
families of humans and animals coexist in a primitive
state
they enter a half built Shack
one part of which is attached with dead grass
Here the author depicts a woman’s plight in a bangle
makers’ family
a frail young woman is cooking the evening meal for
the whole family
she is the wife of Mukesh’s elder brother
not much older in years but she has a respect of a bahu
she veils her face when Mukesh’s father enters
AUTHOR’S VISIT TO MUKESH'S
HOUSE
7. The Author Contemplates over the hard work of
Mukesh’s Father
Mukesh’s father has toiled hard all his life
first as a tailor and then as a bangle maker
still unable to renovate his house or send his two sons
to school
managed to teach them art of bangle making
Mukesh’s grandmother has seen her husband go blind
with the dust from polishing the glass bangles
Grandmother believes in destiny
says ‘can a god given lineage ever be broken’
HARD WORK OF MUKESH'S
FATHER
8. In dark hutments sit boys and girls
their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the
light outside
often end up losing their eyesight
a young girl Savita in a drab pink dress sitting beside
an elderly women
The girl’s hands move like a machine
The author wonders if she understands the sanctity of
the bangles for Indian women
the sad irony will suddenly down upon her
the old lady has not enjoyed even one full meal in her
entire lifetime
one wonders if Mukesh’s father has achieved what
many have failed to achieve
he has a roof over on his head.
YOUNG BOYS AND GIRLS IN
FIROZABAD
9. nothing has changed over the years
years of hardship have killed all hopes and dreams
the author asks a group of young men to organize
themselves in a Cooperative
Learns the horrific truth
if they get organized they are taken to jail and are
beaten up
there is no leader among them
the author finds two distinct worlds in Firozabad
one is the exploited family caught in a vertex of
poverty and the stigma of the caste in which they were
born
TWO DISTINCT WORLDS IN FIROZABAD
10. the author is filled with joy when she finds that Mukesh
thinks differently
the boy is filled with hope
his dreams of being a Motor Mechanic is still alive in
his eyes
he is willing to dare
Anees asks Mukesh if he also dreams of flying a plane
Mukesh replies in the negative
he is content to dream of cars as few planes fly over
Firozabad.
MUKESH IS FILLED WITH HOPE
11. looms like a mirage - seems that it will be true in the future but actually it will not be so
amidst – in the middle of
glass-blowing industry - industry related to making glass
furnaces - a closed room or container where heat is produced
welding - the process of joining metal or glass pieces by heating them
Slog – work hard
Beam – shine brightly
Stinking – bad smell
Hovels – slums
Crumbling – falling down
Wobbly – unsteady
Coexisting - present at the same time and place
Primeval – prehistoric
Shack – a roughly built hut
Thatched – covered with dry grass
Sizzling - make a hissing sound when frying or cooking
DIFFICULT WORDS AND PHRASES
