Flamingo Chapter 2- Lost Spring

Lost Spring

THINK AS YOU READ

Q1. What is Saheb looking for in the garbage dumps? Where is he and where has he come from?
Ans. Saheb is looking for gold in the garbage dumps. He is in the neighbourhood of the author. Saheb has come from Bangladesh. He Came with his mother in 1971. His house was set amidst the green fields of Dhaka. Storms swept away their fields and homes. So they left the country.

Q2. What explanations does the author offer for the children not wearing footwear?
Ans. One explanation offered by the author is that it is a tradition to stay barefoot. It is not lack of money. He wonders if this is only an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty. He also remembers the story of a poor body who prayed to the goddess for a pair of shoes.

Q3. Is Saheb happy working at the tea-stall? Explain.
Ans. No, Saheb is not happy working at the tea-stall. He is no longer his own master. His face has lost the carefree look. 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.

THINK AS YOU READ
Q1. What makes the city of Firozabad famous?
Ans. The city of Firozabad is famous for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles. 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.

Q2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry?
Ans. Boys and girls with their fathers and mothers sit in dark hutments, next to lines of flames of flickering oil lamps. They weld pieces of coloured glass into circles of bangles. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. They often end up losing eyesight before they become adults. Even the dust from polishing the glass of bangles is injurious to eyes. Many workers have become blind. The furnaces have very high temperature and therefore very dangerous.

Q3. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his situation different from that of his family?
Ans. 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. They have seen nothing but bangles.
Mukesh’s father has taught them what he knows—the art of making bangles. But Mukesh wants to be a motor mechanic. He will go to a garage and learn, though the garage is far away from his home.

UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
Q1. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities?
Ans. People migrate from villages to cities in search of livelihood. Their fields fail to provide them means of survival. Cities provide employment, jobs or other means of getting food. The problem in case of the poor is to feed the hungry members. Survival is of primary concern.

Q2. Would you agree that promises made to the poor children are rarely kept? Why do you think this happens in the incidents narrated in the text?
Ans. The promises made to the poor are rarely kept. The author asks Saheb half-joking, whether he will come to her school if she starts one. Saheb agrees to do so. A few days later he asks if the school is ready. The writer feels embarrassed at having made a promise that was not meant. Promises like hers abound in every comer of their bleak world.

Q3. What forces conspire to keep the workers in bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty?
Ans. Certain forces conspire to keep the workers in bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty. These include the moneylenders, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians. Together they impose a heavy burden on the child.

TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT
Q1. How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream?
Ans. Mukesh is the son of a poor bangle-maker of Firozabad. Most of the young men of Firozabad have no initiative or ability to dream, but Mukesh is an exception. He has the capacity to take courage and break from the traditional family occupation. He has strong will power also. He does not want to be a pawn in the hands of the middlemen or moneylenders. He insists on being his own master by becoming a motor mechanic.
He can realise his dream by joining a garage and learn the job of repairing cars and driving them. He will have to overcome many hurdles before he succeeds. Then comes transport problem. Money is the first one. He will have to earn some money himself. The garage is a long way from his home. He will have to cover it twice everyday anyhow—by walking on foot.
Patience, hardwork, firm will and the determination to learn will help him realise his dream.

Q2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry.
Ans. The glass bangles industry has many health hazards. It usually employs small children. It is illegal to employ very young children in hazardous industries, but certain forces like ! middlemen, moneylenders, police and politicians combine to entrap the poor workers.
Let us first consider the places where bangle makers work. It is a cottage industry. They work in the glass furnaces with high temperatures. The dingy cells are without air and light. Boys and girls work hard during day next to lines of flames of flickering oil lamps.
They weld pieces of coloured glass into circles of bangles. Their eyes are more adjusted to the dark than to the light outside. That is why, they often end up losing their eyesight before they become adults.
Glass blowing, welding and soldering pieces of glass are all health hazards. Even the dust from polishing the glass of bangles adversely affects the eyes and even adults go blind. Thus, the surroundings, prevailing conditions and the type of job involved-all prove risky to the health of the workers.

Q3. Why should child labour be eliminated and how?
Ans. Child labour should be eliminated because the children employed at tender age as i domestic servants, dish-washers at road-side dhabas and in hazardous industries making glass bangles, biris, crackers etc. lose the charm of the spring of their life. Their childhood is stolen. Burdened by the responsibility of work, they become adults too soon. Most of them are undernourished, ill-fed, uneducated, and poor. They have a stunted growth.
Child labour can be eliminated only through concerted efforts on the part of government agencies, NGOs (Non-Government Organisations), co-operative societies and political leaders. Mere passing of law will not help. Laws should be enacted faithfully. The children thrown out of work should be rehabilitated and given proper food, clothes, education and pocket money. Their feelings, thoughts and emotions should be respected. Let them enjoy sunshine and fresh air.

Flamingo Chapter 1 - The Last lesson

 The Last lesson

QUESTIONS FROM TEXTBOOK SOLVED

THINK AS YOU READ

Q1. What was Franz expected to be prepared with for school that day?

Ans:  That day Franz was expected to be prepared with participles because M. Hamel had said that he would question them on participles. Franz did not know anything about participles.

Q2. What did Franz notice that was unusual about the school that day?

Ans: Usually, when school began, there was a great bustle, which could be heard out in the street. But it was all very still that day. Everything was as quiet as Sunday morning. There was no opening or closing of desks. His classmates were already in their places. The teacher’s great ruler instead of rapping on the table, was under M. Hamel’s arm.

Q3. What had been put up on the bulletin-board?

Ans: For the last two years all the bad news had come from the bulletin-board. An order had come from Berlin to teach only German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The Germans had put up this notice on the bulletin-board.

THINK AS YOU READ

Q1. What changes did the order from Berlin cause in school that day?

Ans: M. Hamel had put on his best dress—his beautiful green coat, his frilled shirt and the little black silk cap, all embroidered. The whole school seemed so strange and solemn. On the back benches that were always empty, the elderly village people were sitting quietly like the kids.

Q2. How did Franz’s feelings about M. Hamel and school change?

Ans: Franz came to know that it was the last lesson in French that M. Hamel would give them. From the next day they will be taught only German. Then he felt sorry for not learning his lessons properly. His books, which seemed a nuisance and a burden earlier were now old friends. His feelings about M. Hamel also changed. He forgot all about his ruler and how cranky he was.

UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

Q1. The people? in this story suddenly realise how1 precious their language is to them. What shows you this? Why does this happen?

Ans: M. Hamel told the students and villagers that henceforth only German would be taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. Those who called themselves Frenchmen would neither be able to speak nor write it. He praised French as the most beautiful, the clearest and most logical language in the world. He said that for the enslaved people, their language was the key to their prison. Then the people realised how precious their language was to them. This shows people’s love for their own culture, traditions and country. Pride in one’s language reflects pride in the motherland.

Q2. Franz thinks, “Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeonsT’ What could this mean?

Ans: This comment of Franz shows a Frenchman’s typical reaction to the imposition of learning German, the language of the conquerors. Being deprived of the learning of mother tongue would mean cutting off all bonds with the motherland. Teaching the pigeons to sing in German indicates how far the Germans would go in their attempts of linguistic chauvinism.

TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT

Q1. “When a people are en slaved, as long as th ey hold fast to their language it is as if they had the key to their prison.”

Can you think of examples in history where a conquered people had their lan¬guage taken away from them or had a language imposed on them?

Ans: Mother tongue helps a person to express his feelings and thoughts most lucidly and intimately. Conquerors try to subdue and control the people of the enslaved territory by enforcing many measures such as use of force to crush dissent and imposing their own language on them.

From time immemorial the victorious nations have imposed their own language on the conquered people and taken away their own language from them. The Romans conquered many parts of Europe and replaced the local languages by their own language— Latin. Later on Spanish, Pourtuguese, Italian and French developed from Latin. The Muslim invaders imposed Arabic and Persian in the countries of Asia overpowered by them. In many Arab countries the local religion and language have disappeared. In India, a new language Urdu developed from the mixture of Persian and Hindi.