"Lost Spring" is the second prose chapter of the Flamingo textbook for Class 12 English. Written by the noted Indian journalist and author Anees Jung, it is an excerpt from her book "Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood" (2005). The chapter is a powerful piece of non-fiction that exposes the harsh realities of childhood in India, where millions of children are deprived of their innocence, education, and freedom by poverty, exploitation, and a cruel social system. It focuses on the lives of rag-picking children in the Seemapuri slums of Delhi and the children of bangle-makers in Firozabad.
The title "Lost Spring" is deeply symbolic. A "spring" suggests the season of renewal, blossoming, and hope, but for these children, spring has been "lost" — their childhood has been stolen before it could bloom. The children of these families never experience the joys of play, school, or dreams; they are trapped in a cycle of poverty, hard labour, and deprivation from which escape seems impossible. Through her compassionate and observant narrative, Anees Jung gives voice to these voiceless children.
The chapter is divided into two main sections. The first, titled "Sometimes I Find a Rupee in the Garbage," narrates the life of Saheb, a rag-picker in Seemapuri. The second, titled "I Want to Drive a Car," describes Mukesh, a child of bangle-makers in Firozabad, who dares to dream of driving a car despite the crushing poverty of his family. Together, the two stories paint a moving portrait of stolen childhoods and raise uncomfortable questions about social justice, economic inequality, and the collective responsibility of a society that allows its children to suffer.
Anees Jung (born 1933) is an Indian author and journalist known for her perceptive writing on social issues, especially those affecting women, children, and the poor. She has worked with major publications such as the Times of India and the UN and has written several notable books, including "Night of the New Moon" and "Seven Sisters." Her writing is characterised by deep empathy, sharp observation, and a quiet, restrained prose style that lets the grim realities speak for themselves. "Lost Spring" is one of her best-known works and is widely studied for its powerful indictment of child poverty and exploitation in India.
The chapter begins with Anees Jung's observation of Saheb, a young rag-picker who lives in the Seemapuri slums of Delhi. Saheb and children like him are "barefoot" and eke out a living by sifting through garbage dumps for anything valuable — pieces of metal, old rags, and occasionally, a coin. When asked his full name, Saheb says he has none — his name was given to him only after he came to Delhi, since he has no family records. The children were originally from Dhaka in Bangladesh, driven to Delhi by poverty and hunger; for them, "home" is just a roaming concept.
Saheb works the entire day for a pittance, and often for nothing but a couple of stale chapattis. When the author asks him why he does not go to school, he is silent; for him, a school would be a distant dream, and even if he did go, there would be nothing for him to eat. Later, the author notices Saheb working at a tea stall, now wearing new clothes and shoes. But the author reflects that this "gain" is actually a loss — the boy has lost his freedom, his carefree wandering, and his association with his playmates. The author thinks of the "glass bangles" and the delicate things of childhood that are shattered by such employment.
The second half of the chapter shifts to Firozabad, famous for its bangle industry. Here, children are born into the "closed" world of glass-making. Mukesh is a young boy from a family of bangle-makers. Despite the suffocating poverty and the endless cycle of labour, Mukesh dreams of becoming a motor mechanic and driving a car. He claims that he can be a motor mechanic; he wants to walk out of the fog of poverty. The author, however, reflects on the "fog" of tradition, caste, and exploitation that keeps the bangle-makers trapped, generation after generation, in the blazing furnaces of the glass factories.
The bangle-makers of Firozabad work in hazardous conditions with their hands almost touching the fire, yet their "wages" are barely enough to survive. They are bound by the stranglehold of the "middlemen" and the "sahukars" (moneylenders) and the city's police. Their dreams are like the bangles themselves — beautiful, fragile, and soon broken. The author closes with the poignant observation that children like Mukesh are born, but they have no childhood; the spring of their lives has been lost to the grinding wheels of poverty and exploitation.
A rag-picker boy in the Seemapuri slums of Delhi. He is described as barefoot and wandering, surviving by scrounging the garbage dumps for a rupee or a piece of metal. His name was given to him after he came to Delhi; he has no family records and his family originally came from Dhaka, Bangladesh. He represents the thousands of migrant children whose childhood has been swallowed by urban poverty.
A young boy from a family of bangle-makers in Firozabad. Unlike his grandfather and father, who accept their fate, Mukesh dares to dream of becoming a motor mechanic and driving a car. He symbolises fragile hope and the desire to break free from the crushing cycle of poverty and caste-bound tradition.
The narrator-observer who documents the lives of these children with compassion. She reflects on the social and economic structures that steal childhood and questions the responsibility of society. Her voice provides the moral and emotional framework of the narrative.
Migrant families from Bangladesh living in the Delhi slums. They represent the informal, invisible workforce of the city — people whose labour sustains the city's waste economy but who remain marginalised and unrecognised.
The central theme of the chapter is the theft of childhood — the denial of education, play, and dreams to children born into poverty. A second major theme is poverty and economic exploitation, showing how children are trapped in hazardous labour for wages that barely sustain them. The theme of migration and rootlessness appears through Saheb, whose family left Bangladesh for Delhi only to find a marginal existence among the garbage dumps.
The chapter also explores the theme of caste, tradition, and social structures through the bangle-makers of Firozabad, whose lives are bound by the "fog" of age-old customs and the stranglehold of middlemen and moneylenders. A further theme is the futility of dreams and the desire to escape — Mukesh's dream of driving a car stands in sharp contrast to the reality of his situation, yet it also represents the human spirit's refusal to surrender entirely. Overall, the chapter is a powerful social critique of a society that consumes its children's futures.
| Element | Details |
|---|---|
| Author | Anees Jung |
| Source | "Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood" (2005) |
| Part 1 Setting | Seemapuri slums, Delhi (rag-pickers) |
| Part 2 Setting | Firozabad (bangle-makers) |
| Part 1 Child | Saheb-e-Alam (rag-picker) |
| Part 2 Child | Mukesh (dreams of driving a car) |
| Element | Significance |
|---|---|
| "Lost Spring" | Symbol of stolen childhood |
| Garbage dumps | Symbol of degradation and survival |
| Glass bangles | Fragility of dreams and children's lives |
| The "fog" of Firozabad | Poverty, ignorance, and tradition |
| Mukesh's dream of driving | Hope and desire to escape poverty |
"Lost Spring" is a deeply moving and socially relevant account of childhood in the margins of India. Through the quiet, compassionate narratives of Saheb and Mukesh, Anees Jung exposes the brutal reality that thousands of children in India are born into a world where their innocence, education, and dreams are stolen before they can take root. The chapter is not merely a report of poverty; it is a moral indictment of a society that allows its weakest members to be crushed by the machinery of exploitation.
The two children, though trapped, are not identical. Saheb's spring seems already lost in the garbage heaps of Seemapuri, while Mukesh's dream of driving a car flickers like a fragile flame of hope. The story urges every reader to see these children not as statistics but as individuals with desires and dignity. It reminds us that childhood is a fundamental right, and that a society that values its future must protect its children's present.