THE LOST SPRING by
ANEES JUNG
Spring is the Season of optimism and
hope. Spring is the metaphor of childhood stage in a person’s life. From birth
till late childhood, life for every child is almost the beginning of a bright
and a shiny future. Childhood is featured by innocence, physical stamina and
vitality, tremendous urge for the outdoors and a tremendous appetite for fun
and play. Activities have no limits. It is also the stage for gaining skill and
knowledge, learning and going to school.
The lost spring by Anees Jung is an
expression of national shame of children condemned to poverty and a life of
exploitation. The two protagonists of the chapter, Saheb-e-Alam and Mukesh lose
their childhood in carrying the burden of poverty and illiteracy. In their
bleak stories of exploitation, the author finds glimpses of resilience and
fortitude.
‘Sometimes I find a Rupee in the garbage’
Saheb and his family have left their
homes and green fields in Dhaka to settle in Seemapuri. They had left Dhaka
because of storms and floods. They feel it is better to be without identity
than going hungry.
Seemapuri is geographically close to
Delhi, but its traditions, standard of life and people are far away from Delhi.
Seemapuri was a deserted
area when the Bangladeshis arrived here three decades ago. They were forced to
come here due to the natural disasters in Bangladesh. They loved Seemapuri
because they could survive here. They had food and shelter here.
The author’s description of the life
of the rag pickers in Seemapuri is touching. 10,000 people have come as
squatters, staying in structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin,
devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. Squatters
are persons who unlawfully occupy an uninhabited building or unused land. They have stayed there without
any identity but food is more important than identity. Their fields in Dhaka
could not give them food whereas being rag pickers, they don’t go hungry. In
Seemapuri survival means rag picking. The elders have made it their profession
for a fixed wages whereas for the children rag picking is a game of
treasure-hunting. They work through the garbage with a hope that one day they
would get a gold coin or a rupee note from the garbage heap.
Through
years rag picking has acquired the proportions of a fine art. Like any other art form, rag picking possesses certain talents and
rules. One needs guidance and inborn talents to be a successful rag picker. He
should know where to find garbage, what to take, what to ignore, what time is
best for it and so on. In Seemapuri every child is skilled in this art form.
Saheb-e-Alam doesn’t know the
meaning of his name – lord of the universe-which he is not. He was a rag
picker. He and his fellow rag pickers are barefooted and the reason one of them
gives is his mother does not bring his shoes down from the shelf. The author
has met many barefooted children roaming around. The reason is that it is not
lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot. According to Anees Jung,
it is just an excuse to explain their state of poverty.
Education has brought timely changes
in many people’s lifestyle like the priest from Udipi and his son. A man from Udipi once told the
author his own story when he was a boy and his father a priest in the temple.
As a young boy he would go to school past this old temple and stop briefly to
pray for a pair of shoes. Thirty years later when the author visited his town
and the temple, she saw a lot of modern instances in the town and lifestyle of
the people. The priest’s son now goes to school,
wearing shoes and socks carrying a school bag. The author means to indicate the timely changes
education brings to people and how the illiterate rag pickers remain unchanged,
carrying the rotten traditions. The rag pickers have
no way out of poverty since they have no chance to go to school and be
educated.
Saheb
is now employed in a tea shop with a fixed wage of 800 rupees and all meals. He is not happy as he has lost his freedom as he is bound to the owner
of the tea stall who is his master. He is no longer his own master.
The
title ‘Lost Spring’ is justified in the first part as Saheb-e-Alam’s childhood
– his spring time is lost first in picking rags and then in working for a
master.
