LOST SPRING�Stories of stolen childhood

E. Prakash

PGT- English

JNV Pedavegi

West Godavari

- CLASS XII

Pre-reading activity: Brainstorming

Pre-reading activity: Brainstorming (In continuation….)

1. Where are the boys and what are they doing?
2. Can you expect what they are scrounging for?
3. What will they do with it?
4. Some broken/ disposable glasses, pieces of plastic material and some objects. Can you add some more what they can find there?

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Refer to the previous

slide

Name the sectors that are forcing children to work?�(Child Labour)

Pre-reading activity: Brainstorming

(In continuation….)

Focus: Child Labour

1. Garment Industry

2. Brick kilns

3. Unorganized Sectors

4. Agriculture

5. Fireworks

LOST SPRING

About the author: Anees Jung

The following is an excerpt from her book titled Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood. Here she analyses the grinding poverty and traditions which condemn these children to a life of exploitation.

• She was born in Rourkela and spent her childhood and adolescence in Hyderabad.
• She received her education in England and United States of America.
• She has been an editor and columnist for major newspapers in India and abroad, and has authored several books.

Notable books from Anees Jung

• When a place becomes a person (1977)
• Unveiling India (1987)
• The Song of India (1990)
• Night of the New Moon: Encounters with Muslim women in India. (1993)
• Seven Sisters (1994) 
• Breaking the Silence (1997)
• Courtyard (2003)
• Lost Spring: Stories of stolen childhood (2005)

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Pre-reading activity: Questions �(In continuation….)

• What are the main four seasons?

Winter

Spring

Autumn

Summer

The four main seasons

Pre-reading activity: Questions �(In continuation….)

• What are the characteristics and natural changes that occur during “Spring”?

Spring

• What are the characteristics of the spring?

Spring

1. Season of "rebirth", "rejuvenation" and new beginnings.

2. Breeding activities also increase during this time, with many animals giving birth.

3. Characterized by increase in rainfall

5. A lot of special flowers bloom in this season, giving colourful touch to the nature.

4. Farmers and agriculturalists sow their seeds as temperatures become favourable for plant growth.

Pre-reading activity: Questions �(In continuation….)

• What are the characteristics and natural changes that occur during “Summer”?

Summer

• What are the characteristics of the summer?

Summer

5. Most of the plants will die in this season due to lack of water. Leaves and plants dries up if not properly watered and cared.

4. Farmers will have limited special types of crops for the summer and wait for the rainfall.

1. Season of hardship for the less fortunate and fun for the fortunate.

3. Characterized by hot, warmest and longest days in the year.

2. All the animals and birds search for the water and food. Some of them may die due to lack of water and food.

Pre-reading activity: Questions �(In continuation….)

• What are the characteristics and natural changes that occur during “Autumn/ Fall”?

Autumn

• What are the characteristics of the autumn/ fall?

Autumn

1. Transition season from summer into winter

2. Animals prepare themselves for the long months ahead. They collect and store the food for the upcoming winter.

5. In the fall as the weather grows colder, many plants stop producing food. Leaves turn into yellowish red colour.

4. Farmers will not have that much work since the lands will turn into barren lands and bare trees.

3. Characterized by shorter days and longer nights.

Pre-reading activity: Questions �(In continuation….)

• What are the characteristics and natural changes that occur during “Winter”?

Winter

• What are the characteristics of the winter?

Winter

2. Animals go into hibernation, a state resembling sleep where the animal remains inactive, usually housed in a shell, remaining so until summer arrives.

1. Season of in activeness and hibernation.

3. Characterized by falling snow and freezing cold temperatures, usually exacerbated by strong winds.

4. Farmers will not sow the seeds because the snow will hinder the growth of plants

5. Trees and plants shed their leaves in the winter in order to survive the harsh weather.

Pre-reading activity: Questions �(In continuation….)

• Discuss in groups and draw an analogy between the human age groups and these four seasons?

Match between age groups and seasons

Childhood

Youth

Middle Age

Old Age

Autumn/ Fall

Summer

Winter

Spring

Winter

Old age

Spring

Childhood

Autumn

Middle age

Summer

Youth

Ages and seasons analogy

Pre-reading activity: Questions �(In continuation….)

• Write some points on similarity between Spring and Childhood stage.

Spring being the best season of a year, is full of color, fragrance, freshness, renewal and growth.

Similarly, the childhood of human life is often linked to spring, as it marks the beginning of human life, full of joy, pleasure, play and growth.

Conclusion: Childhood is like spring season

• The writer expresses her concern over the exploitation of childhood in hazardous jobs like rag-picking and bangle making.
• Abject poverty and thoughtless traditions result in the loss of childhood of millions of children like Saheb and Mukesh by working hard to support themselves and their families rather than enjoying their childhood by playing and seeking education.
• There is a dire need to provide these poverty stricken children, opportunity to dare, dream and do and a life of dignity.

Introduction

Theme of the lesson: Lost Spring

• Anees Jung through her story, “Lost Spring” deals with the deplorable condition of poor children street children who get forced to miss the simple joyful moments of childhood because of their socio-economic conditions.
• The author Anees Jung strives hard to eliminate child labor through her book.

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Theme of the lesson: Lost Spring

• She propagates the education of children and enforcement of strict laws against child labor by the government.
• The message is to put an end to child exploitation and let all children enjoy their days of the spring

Lost Spring:

• The lesson can be divided into 3 sub parts i.e. the stolen childhood of Saheb-e-Alam, Mukesh and Savita.

• Saheb is a young boy of school-going age.
• Before he is a rag picker and was looking for “gold” in the garbage dumps of the big city.
• Meaning of Saheb-e-Alam
• Lord of Universe: But he is a rag picker.

He roams the streets barefoot with other rag-pickers. This army of barefoot boys appears in the morning and disappears at noon.

Saheb-e-Alam: Introduction

• Saheb came from Dhaka, Bangladesh (Orange colored region in left map) to Seemapuri, Delhi, India(Red coloured point in right map).

Saheb-e-Alam: Introduction

Seemapuri: Saheb’s home town

• Around 10000 rag pickers liven structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or running water.

• Food is more important for survival than an identity.
• “If at the end of the day we can feed our families and go to bed without an aching stomach, we would rather live here than in the fields that gave us no grain” said some women.

• The author asked Saheb about going to school.
• Saheb explained that there was no school in his neighbourhood.
• He promised to go to school when they built one.
• Half joking, the author asked whether he would come in case she started one. Saheb smiled broadly and agreed to come.
• After a few days, he ran upto the author and asked if the school was ready. The author felt embarrassed.
• She had made a promise that was not meant.

Author talks with Saheb about going to school and his desire to have shoes.

Saheb-e-Alam: “But promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak world.”

• “A dream come true”:
• Saheb is wearing discarded tennis shoes. One of them has a hole. Saheb does not bother about the hole.
• For one who has walked barefoot, even shoes with a hole is a dream come true.

• ”Out of his reach”:
• Tennis, a game is out of his reach. Its impossible to a poor boy like Saheb to play a “rich-people” game.

Saheb-e-Alam: Perpetual state of poverty.

Saheb-e-Alam: Working at tea stall

• Saheb now has a regular income. He is paid 800 rupees and all his meals. Thus, food is no problem.
• But his face has lost the carefree look. The steel canister in his hand now seems a burden. He is no longer his own master. He may have to work for longer hours.
• The helplessness of doing things at his own will makes him sad.

• Describe the irony in Saheb’s name.
• What kind of gold did the people of Seemapuri look for in the garbage?
• What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?
• What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?
• How was Saheb’s life at the tea stall? 

While reading activity�(In continuation….)

Saheb-e-Alam: Important points

Saheb-e-Alam : Important points

Lost Spring

• This lesson can be divided into 3 sub parts i.e. the stolen childhood of Saheb-e-Alam, Mukesh and Savita.

Mukesh: Introduction

• Mukesh is the son of a poor bangle-maker of Firozabad (Orange region in Uttar Pradesh map).
• Mukesh is born in the caste of bangle-makers.
• They know no other work other than making bangles.

Firozabad: Mukesh’s home town

• It is the centre of India’s glass-blowing industry.
• Families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass, making bangles for the women in the land.

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Firozabad: Mukesh’s home town

• Its full of stinking lanes choked with garbage, crumbling walls, wobbly doors, no windows, crowded with families.

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• Colourful outside:
• All the colourful bangles are kept on the four-wheeled handcarts.

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• Dark inside
• The boys and girls sit in dark welding pieces of coloured glass into circle of bangles.

Firozabad: Middle men

• The middle men in Firozabad keeps the bangle makers in poverty.
• These include the moneylenders, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians.

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Money lenders

Police men

Firozabad: Middle men

• The middle men in Firozabad keeps the bangle makers in poverty.
• These include the moneylenders, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians.

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Keepers of law

Politicians

Bureaucrats

Mukesh’s Attitude and his dream

• Mukesh’s grandmother thinks that the god-given lineage can never be broken. Her son and grandsons are bom in the caste of bangle makers.
• But Mukesh wants to be a motor mechanic.

He insists on being his own master by becoming a motor mechanic.

Mukesh’s Attitude and his dream

• “A mirage amidst the dust”.

Mukesh is breaking their tradition by thinking of becoming motor mechanic

• What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
• What forces conspire to keep the workers in bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?
• How in your opinion can Mukesh realize his dream?
• How is Mukesh different from the other bangle-makers of Firozabad? 

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While reading activity�(In continuation….)

Mukesh: Important points

Lost Spring

• This lesson can be divided into 3 sub parts i.e. the stolen childhood of Saheb-e-Alam, Mukesh and Savita.

Savita: Introduction

• Savita is a young girl who lives in bangle making town called Firozabad.
• She lives with a old woman and a old man.
• She knows nothing other than making bangles.
• Her hands move mechanically like a tongs of machine.

Savita: Poverty

• Savita does not even know the importance/ significance of the bangles she is making.
• Beside Savita, an old woman who is married and had bangles on her wrist but no light is there in her eyes.

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Savita: Poverty

• The “Ek waqt ser bhar khana bhi nahin khaya” which means they did not enjoyed even a full meal in her entire life time shows the state of their poverty.
• The old man had some credit in his lifetime as he built a house to live in.

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• Savita is a symbol of innocence and efficiency. Comment on this statement.
• The beauty of the glass bangles of Firozabad contrasts with the misery of people who produce them. Comment on this statement.

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While reading activity�(In continuation….)

Savita: Important points

While reading activity�(In continuation….)

• Can you name the two distinctive worlds by seeing the first and second set of images in the last slide?
• Who are the people present in the first set of images (Classify them as Oppressor/ Oppressed)
• Who are the people present in the second set of images (Classify them as Oppressor/ Oppressed?)

While reading activity�(In continuation….)

Two distinctive worlds in the lesson.

1. The families of the bangle-makers belong to one world.
2. These workers are caught in the web of poverty. 
3. They are also burdened by the stigma of the caste in which they are born. They know no other work. 

1. The other world is the vicious circle of the moneylenders, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of the law, the bureaucrats and the politicians.

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Oppressed

Oppressors

What are the causes of Child Labour?

Post reading activities

(In continuation….)

Causes of Child Labour

What are the consequences of Child Labour?

Post reading activities

(In continuation….)

Consequences of Child Labour

Can you name some laws against Child Labour?

Post reading activities

(In continuation….)

Laws against Child Labour in India

How can we eliminate child labour in India?

Post reading activities

(In continuation….)

Eliminating and preventing child labour

• Scrounging: searching
• Mutter: speak in low voice
• Glibly: Speaking/spoken in a confident way
• Bleak: empty
• Perpetual state of poverty: never ending condition of being poor
• Squatter: someone who settles lawfully on government land with the intent to acquire a title to it
• Tattered: torn transit homes: temporary homes

Glossary

• The important figures of speech are:
• Simile
• Irony
• Hyperbole
• Metaphor
• Contrast

Figures of Speech

• The important figures of speech are:
• Simile:
• A simile is a comparison between two unlike things using the words "like" or "as.“
• As slippery as an eel
• Like peas in a pod
• Irony :
• Occurs when there's a marked contrast between what is said and what is meant, or between appearance and reality based on humour.
• A traffic cop gets suspended for not paying his parking tickets.
• The Titanic was said to be unsinkable but sank on its first voyage.

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Figures of Speech

• The important figures of speech are:

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3. Hyperbole:
• Hyperbole uses exaggeration for emphasis or effect.
• I've told you to stop a thousand times.
• That must have cost a billion dollars.
4. Metaphor:
• A metaphor makes a comparison between two unlike things or ideas.
• Heart of stone
• Time is money

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Figures of Speech

• The important figures of speech are:

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5. Contrast
• Occurs when there's a marked contrast between what is said and what is meant, or between appearance and reality not based on humour.
• Unlike most babies, Stuart could walk as soon as he was born
• The weather was snowy, yet it was not cold.

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Figures of Speech

• Find figures of speech in the following sentences :
• Saheb-e-Alam which means the lord of the universe is directly in contrast to what Saheb is in reality.

(Irony)

2. Drowned in an air of desolation

(Hyperbole)

• Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically.

(Metaphor)

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Figures of Speech

• Find figures of speech in the following sentences :
• For the children it is wrapped in wonder; for the elders it is a means of survival.

(Contrast)

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.

(Simile)

• She still has bangles on her wrist, but not light in her eyes.

(Contrast)

Figures of Speech

• Find figures of speech in the following sentences :
• Web of poverty

(Metaphor)

8. Scrounging for gold

(Hyperbole)

• And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years, it has acquired the proportions of a fine art.

(Hyperbole)

• The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulders.

(Metaphor)

Figures of Speech

• 1.Where does the narrator Anees Jung encounter Saheb every morning?
• 2.Why is the narrator embarrassed at having made a promise that was not meant ?
• 3.What was Mukesh’s dream? Did he achieve it?
• 4.Which forces conspire to keep the workers in bangle industry in Firozabad in poverty?
• 5, Why couldn’t the bangle makers organize themselves into cooperatives?

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Assignment