Lost Spring: Stories of Stolen Childhood Practice Flashcards

Vocabulary and terminology-based flashcards covering key characters, locations, statistics, and literary devices from Anees Jung's 'Lost Spring'.

Anees Jung

Born in $1944$ in Rourkela, she is the author of 'Lost Spring, Stories of Stolen Childhood' and has served as an editor and columnist for major newspapers in India and abroad.

Saheb-e-Alam

The full name of the boy Saheb, which means 'lord of the universe', a stark contrast to his reality as a barefoot ragpicker.

Dhaka

The original home of Saheb and his family, set amidst green fields that were swept away by storms, leading them to migrate to the big city.

Seemapuri

A place on the periphery of Delhi where $10,000$ ragpickers live as squatters in structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin and no sewage or drainage.

$$1971$$

The year when squatters from Bangladesh first arrived in Seemapuri.

Firozabad

A town famous for its bangles and known as the center of India's glass-blowing industry, where generations have worked around furnaces welding glass.

$$20,000$$

The estimated number of children working illegally in the high-temperature glass furnaces of Firozabad.

Mukesh

A boy from a family of bangle makers in Firozabad who dreams of being his own master by becoming a motor mechanic.

Suhaag

The concept of auspiciousness in marriage for an Indian woman, symbolized by the bangles she wears.

Karman

A word meaning destiny, referenced by Mukesh’s grandmother to describe the god-given lineage of being born into the caste of bangle makers.

Bahu

The daughter-in-law of the house; in the text, it refers to the wife of Mukesh's elder brother who complies with the custom of veiling her face before male elders.

$800$ rupees

The monthly salary Saheb is paid while working at the tea stall, in addition to receiving all his meals.

Hyperbole

A literary device that makes something sound more exciting than it is, exemplified by the phrase 'Garbage to them is gold'.

Metaphor

A comparison that transfers a quality from one thing to another, such as 'The road was a ribbon of light' or 'web of poverty'.

Simile

A phrase comparing one thing with another using 'like' or 'as', such as 'hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine'.

Transit homes

Tents pitched by migrants wherever they find food, serving as dwellings where children grow up as partners in survival.

Steel canister

An object Saheb carries for his work at the tea shop which symbolizes his loss of freedom, feeling heavier than the plastic bag he used for rag-picking.