Lost Spring

 

Lost Spring

Lost Spring describes the life of rag pickers living in Seemapuri, a place near Delhi. They have not been given any identities or permits. Only ration cards are given to them that help them eat food and vote for politicians. They are deprived of education and other rights. Over the years, rag picking has become an art for them.

Saheb, is a child who is a rag picker. Finding a rupee or a ten rupee note is a big achievement for him. The narrator sees every morning to him. She asks him to join a school, but he replies that there is no school in his neighborhood. The narrator promises him that she will start a school for him. Saheb’s face lights up. A few days later, Saheb meets the narrator, asking her if her school is ready. The narrator was embarrassed.

One day, she sees Saheb wearing a pair of tennis shoes. One of them had a hole in it, and it did not seem to bother him because it was a dream comes true for a child who had always walked barefoot.

Finally the narrator sees Saheb with a steel canister in his hand. She learns that he has started working at a tea stall recently and is paid 800 rupees in addition to daily meals. When asked if he was happy with his new job, Saheb looked downcast. He was working under someone, and his freedom was taken away from him. He no longer had a carefree attitude, and the steel canister seemed heavier than the plastic bag that he used to carry for rag picking.

The other part of the story deals with the traditional bangle makers of Firozabad. They are poor, illiterate and fatalists. They believe they are born in the families of bangle makers because of their fate. They find themselves in the clutches of middleman and moneylenders.

Mukesh wants to give up this work. He dreams to be a motor mechanic.