Lost Spring Class 12: Summary, Themes, Characters and Board Answers
Updated 14 October 2026 · Fact-checked
Lost Spring by Anees Jung, from Flamingo, describes two poor children whose childhood is stolen: Saheb, a ragpicker in Seemapuri, and Mukesh, from a bangle-making family in Firozabad. It shows how poverty, tradition and exploitation trap them. The board tests it through prose extracts, 40-50 word short answers and 120-150 word long answers.
What Lost Spring is about
Lost Spring: Stories of Stolen Childhood is an excerpt from Anees Jung's book of the same name. 'Spring' stands for childhood; the children in the story lose it to poverty and work.
The chapter has two parts:
1. 'Sometimes I find a Rupee in the garbage': Saheb-e-Alam, a ragpicker boy whose family came from Dhaka and lives in Seemapuri on the edge of Delhi.
2. 'I want to drive a car': Mukesh, from a family of bangle makers in Firozabad, the centre of India's glass-blowing industry, who dreams of becoming a motor mechanic.
NCERT gives the theme as the plight of street children forced into labour and denied schooling, with the callousness of society and the political class as the sub-theme.
What the board asks: prose extracts (Q9), 40-50 word answers on Saheb's job at the tea stall, the excuses for going barefoot or the hazards of the bangle industry, and 120-150 word answers on child labour, the vicious circle of poverty, or how Mukesh can realise his dream.
Weightage: Section C (Literature) carries 40 of the 80 theory marks; Flamingo is tested through a Flamingo prose extract (6 x 1), five of six short answers from Flamingo (5 x 2) and one of two long answers (5).Source: CBSE English Core (301) syllabus and sample paper 2026-27
In real board papers: asked in 0 of the 2 board papers we hold (2026 to 2026), on average 0 marks per paper. See the questions
Lost Spring: summary
In our own words, in the order of the text. Read the NCERT text itself too: the board quotes from it.
The author meets Saheb every morning scrounging in the garbage dumps of her neighbourhood. His family left Dhaka after storms swept away their fields and homes, and came to the city looking for a living. When she casually tells him to go to school, he says there is no school nearby. She half-jokingly offers to start one, and he later runs up to ask whether it is ready; she is embarrassed by her empty promise. His full name, Saheb-e-Alam, means 'lord of the universe', a cruel contrast with his life.
Saheb and his friends roam barefoot. The author hears that going barefoot is a tradition, but suspects this is only an excuse for constant poverty. She recalls a man from Udipi who prayed for shoes as a boy; now the priest's son wears shoes, but ragpickers do not.
In Seemapuri live about 10,000 ragpickers who came from Bangladesh in 1971. They live in mud houses with tin roofs, without sewage, drainage or running water, without identity papers but with ration cards. For them food matters more than identity. Rag-picking is their means of survival; for the children, garbage is 'wrapped in wonder' because they may find a coin. Later Saheb takes a job at a tea stall for 800 rupees and meals, but he loses his carefree look: he is no longer his own master.
In Firozabad, every other family makes glass bangles. Mukesh's family works in dark, airless rooms near hot furnaces, and many children lose their eyesight. His grandfather went blind; his grandmother calls their work 'karam', their destiny. Savita solders glass mechanically, unaware that bangles symbolise a married woman's suhaag. An old woman says she has never eaten a full meal. The bangle makers are trapped between their own poverty and caste on one side and the moneylenders, middlemen, police, bureaucrats and politicians on the other. They fear that forming a cooperative would only get them beaten and jailed. Yet Mukesh dares to dream: he wants to be a motor mechanic and is ready to walk to a distant garage to learn, though he does not dream of flying planes.
Themes and message
Stolen childhood and child labour
Saheb and Mukesh should be in school, but poverty pushes them into rag-picking, tea stalls and bangle furnaces. The title 'Lost Spring' compares their lost childhood to a season that never blossoms.
From the text: Children in Firozabad work near hot furnaces in dingy cells and often lose 'the brightness of their eyes'.
The vicious circle of poverty
Generations of bangle makers stay poor because of debt, middlemen, caste and lack of education. Years of toil kill their initiative and ability to dream, so children accept the same life as their fathers.
From the text: The author sees two worlds, the family trapped by poverty and caste, and the 'vicious circle' of sahukars, middlemen, police, bureaucrats and politicians.
Callousness of society
Promises made to the poor are rarely kept, laws against child labour are not enforced, and those in power exploit the workers. Even the author's careless promise of a school reflects this indifference.
From the text: 'Promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak world.'
Hope and the courage to dream
Against this bleak background, Mukesh's wish to be a motor mechanic shows that hope can survive. His dream is limited by his surroundings, but it is a first step towards breaking the circle.
From the text: Mukesh insists 'I will walk' to the distant garage to learn.
Characters
Saheb-e-Alam
A ragpicker boy from a Bangladeshi refugee family in Seemapuri.
- Poor but hopeful; finds wonder in garbage
- Wants to go to school if there is one
- Fond of games he cannot play, like tennis
- Loses his freedom and carefree look when he works at the tea stall
His name means 'lord of the universe', but he roams barefoot; at the tea stall he is 'no longer his own master'.
Mukesh
A boy from a bangle-making family in Firozabad.
- Self-respecting and determined
- Dares to dream differently from his family
- Proud of his home being rebuilt
- His dreams are limited by what he sees around him
'I will be a motor mechanic'; 'I will walk' to the garage; he does not dream of flying planes because few planes fly over Firozabad.
Mukesh's family and the bangle makers
Generations trapped in the bangle industry.
- Fatalistic: accept poverty as karam
- Exhausted and fearful of the police
- Unable to organise or dream
The grandmother asks whether a god-given lineage can ever be broken; the young men fear being jailed if they form a cooperative.
How it is written
| Device | Example | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Irony | Saheb-e-Alam means 'lord of the universe', yet he is a barefoot ragpicker. | Highlights the gap between his name and his reality. |
| Hyperbole / metaphor | 'Garbage to them is gold.' | Shows how vital rag-picking is to their survival. |
| Simile | 'her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine' | Shows how Savita's work has become mindless and machine-like. |
| Contrast | The bright colours of the bangles against the dark hutments and blind workers. | Brings out the paradox of beauty made from misery. |
Key quotations
Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.
Garbage to them is gold.
Author: Describing the ragpickers of Seemapuri.
Garbage is their only source of food and shelter; the line is both literal and ironic.
Saheb is no longer his own master!
Author: Saheb now works at a tea stall.
Even a paid job takes away his freedom; the canister belongs to his employer.
Can a god-given lineage ever be broken?
Mukesh's grandmother (implied): She calls the family's work their karam.
Shows the fatalism that keeps the family in the bangle trade.
She still has bangles on her wrist, but no light in her eyes.
Author: About the old woman soldering glass beside Savita.
Contrasts the symbol of marriage with a life of hunger and lost eyesight.
Together they have imposed the baggage on the child that he cannot put down.
Author: On the forces that trap the bangle makers.
The 'baggage' of poverty and caste is passed on to each child.
Few airplanes fly over Firozabad.
Author: Explaining why Mukesh does not dream of flying.
His dreams are limited by what he sees around him.
Lost Spring in real life
Each concept, met in an everyday situation. Read the situation, answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.
Child labour around us
Suppose you see a boy of about ten washing glasses at a roadside dhaba every evening on your way home from tuition.
How is he like Saheb, and what could you do? Answer in 40-50 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Like Saheb at the tea stall, he works for someone else instead of studying.
- He has lost his childhood and freedom.
- Inform the child helpline or an NGO; encourage schooling.
Answer: Like Saheb at the tea stall, the boy is no longer his own master; he works when he should be studying or playing. I could inform the child helpline or a local NGO and talk to my school about supporting his education.
Memory hook: A child at work is a spring lost.
Empty promises
Imagine a politician promises your village a school before an election, but nothing is built afterwards.
Which incident in 'Lost Spring' is this like?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The author promised Saheb a school without meaning it.
- Promises to the poor are rarely kept.
Answer: It is like the author's careless promise of a school to Saheb, which she never meant to keep; such promises 'abound' in the world of the poor.
Memory hook: Promises are cheap; schools are not.
Paradox of beauty and misery
Suppose you admire a beautiful hand-woven carpet in a shop and later read that it was made by poorly paid workers in dark rooms.
Which paradox from 'Lost Spring' does this reflect?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Firozabad's colourful bangles are made in dark hutments.
- Beautiful products, miserable makers.
Answer: Like the bright bangles of Firozabad, the carpet's beauty hides the misery of those who make it.
Memory hook: Bright product, dark workshop.
Topics in this chapter
How the board asks Lost Spring
The question patterns to expect, and the method that works for each.
| Question type | How it is asked | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Prose extract (Q9, 6 x 1) | Passage on Saheb, Seemapuri or Firozabad with MCQs, completion and inference items. | Answer from the extract; for symbolism (bag vs canister, garbage as gold) state what each stands for. |
| Short answer (Q10, 40-50 words) | Excuses for going barefoot; hazards of the bangle industry; Mukesh's attitude vs his family's; is Saheb happy at the tea stall? | Two points with a detail from the text each. |
| Long answer (Q12, 120-150 words) | Forces that keep bangle makers poor; child labour and its elimination; how Mukesh can realise his dream; promises to the poor. | Explain with evidence, add a present-day link and a suggestion, conclude. |
Tricks to remember Lost Spring
Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.
Two children, two cities
Saheb – Seemapuri – Scrounging (rags); Mukesh – (Firozabad) – Mechanic dream.
Use it when: Keeping the two halves apart.
The vicious circle: 'SMPBP'
Sahukars, Middlemen, Police, Bureaucrats, Politicians.
Use it when: Long answer on forces that keep bangle makers poor.
Bag vs canister
The bag was his (freedom); the canister is the owner's (servitude).
Use it when: Extract and short answers on Saheb's job.
Lost Spring: extract-based questions
Read the extract, answer every part on paper, then open the answers.
Extract 1: Garbage and hope
It seems that for children, garbage has a meaning different from what it means to their parents. For the children it is wrapped in wonder, for the elders it is a means of survival.
(1) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Just before this, Saheb says, his eyes lighting up, that he sometimes finds a rupee, even a ten-rupee note; once you find a coin in the garbage you keep 'scrounging', hoping for more. Why do Saheb's eyes light up?
(2) · 1 mark · MCQ
(See the context given in the first question.) The word 'scrounging' means:
(a) begging openly (b) searching hard to find something (c) cleaning carefully (d) selling cheaply(3) · 1 mark · Very short answer
(See the context given in the first question.) What keeps the children searching the garbage?
(4) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Complete: For the elders, garbage is ________.
(5) · 1 mark · MCQ
Which literary device is used in 'For the children it is wrapped in wonder, for the elders it is a means of survival'?
(a) Simile (b) Contrast (c) Alliteration only (d) Personification(6) · 1 mark · Assertion-reason
Assertion (A): For children, garbage is something exciting.
Reason (R): They may find coins in it, which fills them with hope.
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A. (b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A. (c) A is true but R is false. (d) A is false but R is true.
Show the answersAnswers
- Because he sometimes finds a rupee or even a ten-rupee note in the garbage.
- (b) searching hard to find something
- The hope of finding more coins after finding one.
- a means of survival.
- (b) Contrast
- (a)
Extract 2: Saheb at the tea stall
The steel canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly over his shoulder. The bag was his. The canister belongs to the man who owns the tea shop. Saheb is no longer his own master!
(1) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Just before this, Saheb tells the author that he now works at a tea stall down the road and is paid 800 rupees and all his meals. What does Saheb earn at the tea stall?
(2) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Why does the canister seem 'heavier' than the plastic bag?
(3) · 1 mark · MCQ
When the author asks if he likes the job, she notices a change in Saheb's face. What has Saheb's face lost?
(a) its colour (b) its carefree look (c) its smile for the author (d) its dirt(4) · 1 mark · MCQ
The contrast between the bag and the canister symbolises:
(a) wealth and poverty (b) freedom and loss of freedom (c) school and work (d) city and village(5) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Is Saheb happy at the tea stall? Answer in one sentence.
(6) · 1 mark · Very short answer
What tone does the last sentence of the extract carry?
Show the answersAnswers
- 800 rupees and all his meals.
- It is a burden of servitude: it belongs to his employer, while the bag was his own.
- (b) its carefree look
- (b) freedom and loss of freedom
- No; though he is paid, he has lost his freedom and carefree look.
- A tone of sympathy and regret at Saheb's loss of independence.
Lost Spring: board-level solved questions
Ordered from board level to HOTS. Cover the solution, write your own, then compare step by step.
Example 1: Barefoot children · 2 marks · Short answerBoard level
What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear? Answer in 40-50 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Tradition to stay barefoot (one explanation).
- Author suspects it is an excuse for perpetual poverty.
- Boys' own replies show want, not choice.
Answer: One explanation the author hears is that staying barefoot is a tradition, not a lack of money. She doubts this and suspects it is an excuse to hide constant poverty. The boys' replies, and one boy saying he has never owned shoes, suggest that poverty is the real reason.
Example 2: Hazards of the bangle industry · 2 marks · Short answerBoard level
Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangle industry. Answer in 40-50 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- High temperatures of furnaces.
- Dingy cells without air and light.
- Loss of eyesight; dust from polishing.
Answer: Workers, including children, sit near furnaces with very high temperatures in dingy cells without air or light. Their eyes adjust to darkness, so many lose their eyesight before adulthood. Dust from polishing glass can cause blindness, as happened to Mukesh's grandfather.
Example 3: Mukesh vs his family · 2 marks · Short answerHarder board level
How is Mukesh's attitude to his situation different from that of his family? Answer in 40-50 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Family accepts bangle making as destiny.
- Mukesh wants to be a motor mechanic.
- He is ready to walk to learn.
Answer: Mukesh's family accepts bangle making as their karam, a god-given lineage they cannot break. Mukesh dares to be different: he wants to become a motor mechanic and is ready to walk to a distant garage to learn. He insists on being his own master.
Example 4: Seemapuri: identity vs food · 2 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Why do the people of Seemapuri value food more than identity? Answer in 40-50 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Refugees with no permits or identity.
- Ration cards give grain.
- Survival comes first; fields gave no grain.
Answer: The ragpickers of Seemapuri live without identity or permits, but ration cards let them buy grain. For people who fled fields that gave no grain, survival matters most. As the women say, if they can feed their families and sleep without hunger, they prefer Seemapuri.
Example 5: The vicious circle · 5 marks · Long answerHarder board level
Why do the bangle makers of Firozabad remain poor generation after generation? Discuss the forces that trap them. Answer in 120-150 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Family: poverty, caste, fatalism.
- Outside: sahukars, middlemen, police, bureaucrats, politicians.
- Fear of organising; no leader.
- Lack of education and enforcement.
- Conclusion: the baggage passed to the child.
Answer: The bangle makers of Firozabad are trapped by forces inside and outside their homes. Inside, they are bound by poverty and by the stigma of the caste into which they are born. Elders like Mukesh's grandmother accept their work as karam, a god-given lineage that cannot be broken, so children learn only the art of making bangles instead of going to school.
Outside is a vicious circle of sahukars, middlemen, policemen, bureaucrats and politicians who exploit them. The young men fear that if they form a cooperative, they will be beaten and jailed. They have no leader, and years of mind-numbing toil have killed their initiative and their ability to dream. Laws against child labour are not enforced.
Together these forces impose a burden on each child that he cannot put down, and he accepts it as naturally as his father did.
Example 6: Eliminating child labour · 5 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
'Lost Spring' shows how poverty steals childhood. Why should child labour be eliminated, and how can it be done? Answer in 120-150 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Harm: health, education, freedom (Saheb, Firozabad).
- Cycle continues without education.
- Measures: enforce laws, schools, support to families, cooperatives, awareness.
- Conclusion.
Answer: In 'Lost Spring', Saheb picks garbage instead of going to school, and children in Firozabad lose their eyesight in dark furnace rooms. Child labour robs children of health, education and freedom. Without education, they remain trapped in the same work as their parents, so poverty passes from one generation to the next.
To end it, laws against child labour must be strictly enforced, as the text notes that enforcement could free thousands of children from the furnaces. Every neighbourhood needs a real school, not empty promises like the author's. Poor families need fair wages and support so that they do not depend on their children's earnings. Cooperatives can free workers from middlemen, and awareness can break the belief that such work is destiny.
Only when children like Saheb and Mukesh can learn and dream will spring return to their lives.
Where the marks are
How a typical answer is marked: the value points the examiner looks for and the marks each earns.
Is Saheb happy working at the tea stall? (40-50 words, 2 marks) (2 marks)
| Step | Marks |
|---|---|
| No; he has lost his carefree look and is no longer his own master. | 1 |
| Contrast of his own bag with the owner's canister; expression within the word limit. | 1 |
Long answer on child labour (120-150 words, 5 marks) (5 marks)
| Step | Marks |
|---|---|
| Content: harm to children shown with evidence from the text. | 2 |
| Content: suggestions or extrapolation to the present. | 1 |
| Organisation and coherence. | 1 |
| Accuracy of language. | 1 |
Where students lose marks in Lost Spring
The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.
Mistake: Mixing up Saheb and Mukesh
Do this: Saheb: ragpicker from Dhaka in Seemapuri, later at a tea stall. Mukesh: bangle-maker's son in Firozabad who wants to be a motor mechanic.
Usually costs: Content marks in short and long answers.
Mistake: Saying Saheb is happy at the tea stall because he is paid
Do this: He has lost his carefree look and freedom; he is no longer his own master.
Usually costs: 1-2 marks.
Mistake: Listing only 'poverty' for the forces in Firozabad
Do this: Name both worlds: family poverty, caste and fatalism, and the circle of sahukars, middlemen, police, bureaucrats and politicians.
Usually costs: Up to 2 content marks in a 5-mark answer.
Mistake: Inventing facts such as Mukesh going to school
Do this: His father could not send his sons to school; Mukesh plans to learn at a garage.
Usually costs: Accuracy.
Lost Spring: previous year questions
- Asked in 0 of the 2 board papers we hold (2026 to 2026), on average 0 marks per paper; 0 questions in all, counting OR alternatives. In 2 of 3 sample papers.
Counted from the real papers on our previous year papers page, not estimated. Average marks are over every board paper we hold, with an OR pair counted once. Chapter tags are ours.
Every Lost Spring question, by year
- For 2025
Sample paper 2024-25: Q9(B) (6 marks), Q10 (10 marks)
- For 2024
Sample paper 2023-24: Q9(B) (6 marks)
Practice questions on Lost Spring
Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.
Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
Where had Saheb's family come from?
(a) Udipi (b) Dhaka (c) Firozabad (d) SeemapuriHint
Green fields swept by storms.
Answer
(b) Dhaka
Q2 · 1 mark · Very short answerBoard level
What does 'Saheb-e-Alam' mean?
Hint
A grand title.
Answer
Lord of the universe.
Q3 · 2 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Would you agree that promises made to poor children are rarely kept? Answer in 40-50 words with reference to the story.
Hint
The author's school.
Answer
Yes. The author half-jokingly promises to start a school, and Saheb eagerly asks whether it is ready. She is embarrassed because she never meant it. She admits that such promises abound in his bleak world: the poor are given words, not real help, because their needs are ignored.
Q4 · 2 marks · Short answerHarder board level
What is the significance of the bangles for Savita, and what irony does the author show? Answer in 40-50 words.
Hint
Suhaag.
Answer
Bangles symbolise a married woman's suhaag, but Savita solders them mechanically without knowing this. She will understand it only when she becomes a bride. The irony is that makers of this symbol of good fortune live in misery, like the old woman with bangles but no light in her eyes.
Q5 · 5 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream of becoming a motor mechanic? Answer in 120-150 words.
Hint
His determination plus outside support.
Answer
Mukesh already has the most important quality: the courage to dream differently from his family. He insists he will be a motor mechanic and is ready to walk the long distance to a garage to learn. To realise his dream, he must keep this determination and resist the family belief that bangle making is their fixed destiny. He could begin as a helper in a garage, learning by watching and doing, and slowly gain skill. Support from outside is also needed. Government skill-training schemes, vocational institutes and NGOs working with child labourers could give him training and guidance. If the laws against child labour were enforced, he would be free from the furnaces to learn. With his own grit and such help, Mukesh could become his own master and show other children in Firozabad that the circle can be broken.
Q6 · 2 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Why is Seemapuri described as 'on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically'? Answer in 40-50 words.
Hint
Physical vs social distance.
Answer
Seemapuri lies at the edge of Delhi, so it is physically close. But its people live in mud huts without sewage, drainage, water or identity, far from the comforts and opportunities of the city. The distance is social and economic, not geographical.
Q7 · 1 mark · Very short answerBoard level
Name the town famous for its bangles.
Hint
Glass-blowing centre.
Answer
Firozabad.
Test your recall
Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.
1.Where does Saheb live?Show answer
Seemapuri, on the periphery of Delhi.
2.When did the Seemapuri squatters come from Bangladesh?Show answer
In 1971.
3.How much does Saheb earn at the tea stall?Show answer
800 rupees and all his meals.
4.What does Mukesh want to become?Show answer
A motor mechanic.
5.How did Mukesh's grandfather go blind?Show answer
From the dust of polishing the glass of bangles.
6.What do bangles symbolise?Show answer
A married woman's suhaag (auspiciousness in marriage).
7.Why don't the young men form a cooperative?Show answer
They fear being beaten and jailed by the police.
8.Why doesn't Mukesh dream of flying planes?Show answer
Few airplanes fly over Firozabad; his dreams are limited by what he sees.
Quick revision checklist
The night before the exam: can you do each of these without looking?
- Can you summarise both parts of the story?
- Can you explain the irony of Saheb's name?
- Can you explain the bag and canister contrast?
- Can you list the hazards of the bangle industry?
- Can you name the forces in the vicious circle?
- Can you contrast Mukesh with his family?
- Can you write 120-150 words on child labour?
Lost Spring: frequently asked questions
What is the theme of Lost Spring?
The plight of poor children forced into labour and denied schooling, and the indifference of society and those in power to their suffering.
Why is the chapter called Lost Spring?
Spring stands for childhood; children like Saheb and Mukesh lose theirs to poverty and work.
What does 'Garbage to them is gold' mean?
Garbage is the ragpickers' livelihood: their food and shelter come from it, and children hope to find coins in it.
Who is Savita?
A young girl in Firozabad who solders glass to make bangles without knowing their meaning as a symbol of marriage.
Based on: CBSE English Core (301) syllabus 2026-27; NCERT Flamingo, Textbook in English for Class XII (Reprint 2026-27)