CBSE Class 12 English HOTs The Lost Spring Set 04

EXTRACT BASED QUESTIONS

“Why do you do this?” I ask Saheb whom I encounter every morning scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps of my neighbourhood. Saheb left his home long ago. Set amidst the green fields of Dhaka, his home is not even a distant memory. There were many storms that swept away their fields and homes, his mother tells him. That’s why they left, looking for gold in the big city where he now lives. “I have nothing else to do”, he mutters, looking away.

Question. Who encounters Saheb every morning?
(a) Anees Jung
(b) Mukesh
(c) The rag-pickers
(d) The motor-mechanic
Answer: (a) Anees Jung

Question. Where is Saheb's home located?
(a) Delhi, India
(b) Dhaka, Bangladesh
(c) Karanchi, Pakistan
(d) Kabul, Afganistan
Answer: (b) Dhaka, Bangladesh

Question. Why did Saheb's family leave their native place?
(a) To find prosperity
(b) To save themselves from their enemies
(c) Storms swept away their fields and homes
(d) To search for gold in the garbage
Answer: (c) Storms swept away their fields and homes

Question. What does the word 'scrounging' used in the extract mean?
(a) Offering
(b) Flooding
(c) Working
(d) Hunting for
Answer: (d) Hunting for

“Go to school”, I say glibly, realising immediately how hollow the advice must sound. “There is no school in my neighbourhood. When they build one, I will go.” “If I start a school, will you come?” I ask, half-joking. “Yes,” he says, smiling broadly. A few days later I see him running up to me. “Is your school ready?” “It takes longer to build a school,” I say, embarrassed at having made a promise that was not meant. But promises like mine abound in every corner of his bleak world. After months of knowing him, I ask him his name, “Saheb - e - Alam”, he announces. He does not know that it means. If he knew its meaning-lord of the universe-he would have a hard time believing it.

Question. How does Saheb respond to the narrator's advice?
(a) That he enjoys doing his work
(b) That his parents won't allow
(c) That he would go when one is there
(d) That they all are beyond his reach
Answer: (c) That he would go when one is there

Question. Why did the narrator feel embarrassed?
(a) For making a false promise
(b) For hurting the emotions of Saheb
(c) For mocking the poverty of Saheb
(d) For making Saheb run to her
Answer: (a) For making a false promise

Question. ......... in the extract means 'thrive'.
(a) Embarrassed
(b) Broadly
(c) Glibly
(d) Abound
Answer: (d) Abound

Question. How is the name of the poor rag-picker, Saheb - e - Alam ironic in nature?
(a) It means the lord of cleanliness
(b) It means the lord of the universe
(c) It means rich and the prosperous
(d) It means king of the kingdom
Answer: (b) It means the lord of the universe

“Why aren’t you wearing chappals?” I ask one. “My mother did not bring them down from the shelf,” he answers simply. “Even if she did he will throw them off,” adds another who is wearing shoes that do not match. When I comment on it, he shuffles his feet and says nothing. “I want shoes”, says a third boy who has never owned a pair all his life. Travelling across the country I have seen children walking barefoot, in cities, on village roads. It is not lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot, is one explanation. I wonder if this is only an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty.

Question. Why was the one, being asked, not wearing chappals?
(a) Because he had none
(b) Because one of them was broken
(c) Because his father had asked him not to wear
(d) Because his mother did not bring them down from the shelf
Answer: (d) Because his mother did not bring them down from the shelf

Question. What does the boy do when the narrator comments on unmatching shoes?
(a) He changes his shoes
(b) He hides behind the other boys
(c) He shuffles his shoes without responding
(d) He rebukes the narrator and mocks her dress
Answer: (c) He shuffles his shoes without responding

Question. What is an excuse to explain away a perpetual state of poverty?
(a) Walking barefoot
(b) To term 'walking barefoot' a tradition
(c) To rease the 'worn out shoes'
(d) Not to bring chappals out of shelf
Answer: (b) To term 'walking barefoot' a tradition

Question. The word 'perpetual' used in the extract means .........
(a) constant
(b) ceasing
(c) transient
(d) ephemeral
Answer: (a) constant

In his hand is a steel canister. “I now work in a tea stall down the road,” he says, pointing in the distance. “I am paid 800 rupees and all my meals.” Does he like the job? I ask. His face, I see, 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. Saheb is no longer his own master!

Question. What is Saheb holding while on his way?
(a) Rag picking bag
(b) A pair of different colour shoes
(c) A gold coin
(d) A steel canister
Answer: (d) A steel canister

Question. How has the new job impacted Saheb?
(a) He earns more money and better food now
(b) He has lost his carefree look now
(c) He saves the time to go to school now
(d) He has no time to play now.
Answer: (b) He has lost his carefree look now

Question. Why does the steel canister seem heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly?
(a) The bag was his
(b) The canister belongs to the shop owner
(c) Saheb is no longer his own master
(d) All of the options
Answer: (d) All of the options

Question. ......... means 'canister' used in the extract.
(a) Vessel
(b) Humdinger
(c) Implication
(d) Fuss
Answer: (a) Vessel

Mukesh insists on being his own master. “I will be a motor mechanic”, he announces. “Do you know anything about cars?” I ask. “I will learn to drive a car,” he answers, looking straight into my eyes. His dream looms like a mirage amidst the dust of streets that fill his town Firozabad, famous for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in making bangles.

Question. What does Mukesh aspire to be?
(a) A computer engineer
(b) A motor mechanic
(c) A bangle maker
(d) A rag picker
Answer: (b) A motor mechanic

Question. How does Mukesh respond to the narrator?
(a) That he would fly the aeroplane
(b) That he would initiate a bangle industry
(c) That he would connect Firozabad to Paris
(d) That he would learn to drive a car
Answer: (d) That he would learn to drive a car

Question. Why is Firozabad famous for its bangles?
(a) Because glass is found mainly in Firozabad
(b) Because it is the centre of India's glass blowing industry
(c) Because every other family of Firozabad is engaged in bangle making
(d) Because Firozabad has been the hub of bangle making
Answer: (c) Because every other family of Firozabad is engaged in bangle making

Question. ......... in the extract means 'delusion'.
(a) Mirage
(b) Loom
(c) Dream
(d) Generation
Answer: (a) Mirage

“It is his karam, his destiny,” says Mukesh’s grandmother, who has watched her own husband go blind with the dust from polishing the glass of bangles. “Can a god-given lineage ever be broken?” she implies. Born in the caste of bangle makers, they have seen nothing but bangles—in the house, in the yard, in every other house, every other yard, every street in Firozabad. Spirals of bangles—sunny gold, paddy green, royal blue, pink, purple, every colour born out of the seven colours of the rainbow - lie in mounds in unkempt yards, are piled on four wheeled handcarts, pushed by young men along the narrow lanes of the shanty town.

Question. How did Mukesh's grandfather get blind?
(a) By the dust from polishing the glass of bangles
(b) By being stuck in the furnace
(c) By constantly working at night
(d) By not consuming the required diet
Answer: (a) By the dust from polishing the glass of bangles

Question. What lies in mounds in unkempt yards?
(a) Chemical
(b) Spirals of bangles of all colours
(c) Oil lamps
(d) Welding material
Answer: (b) Spirals of bangles of all colours

Question. Why do the people of Firozabad usually lose their eye sight?
(a) They have to face shortage of light
(b) Bangles reduce the vision immunity
(c) The dust from polishing the glass of bangles
(d) They are under fed and malnourished
Answer: (c) The dust from polishing the glass of bangles

Question. The word 'Flickering' used in the extract means .........
(a) dim lighted
(b) sharp light
(c) constant burning
(d) shining unsteadily
Answer: (d) shining unsteadily

The cry of not having money to do anything except carry on the business of making bangles, not even enough to eat, rings in every home. The young men echo the lament of their elders. Little has moved with time, it seems, in Firozabad. Years of mind-numbing toil have killed all initiative and the ability to dream. “Why not organise yourselves into a cooperative?” I ask a group of young men who have fallen into the vicious circle of middlemen who trapped their fathers and forefathers.

Question. What has been killed by years of mind numbing toil?
(a) The prosperity of Firozabad
(b) Bangle making ability
(c) Joy of the people
(d) Ability of dream and initiative
Answer: (d) Ability of dream and initiative

Question. Why does the narrator ask the young men to organise them into a co - operative?
(a) To derive some indirect benefit from them
(b) To help them come out of the vicious circle of middlemen
(c) To face the police bravely
(d) To shut bangle making industry
Answer: (b) To help them come out of the vicious circle of middlemen

Question. Why cry rings in every home of Firozabad?
(a) Middlemen exploiting the people
(b) Police hauling them for illegal acts
(c) Not having enough money to look beyond bangle making
(d) Lack of education for the youth
Answer: (c) Not having enough money to look beyond bangle making

Question. ......... in the extract means 'extremely boring and uninspiring.'
(a) Mind numbing
(b) Vicious
(c) Hauled
(d) Spiral
Answer: (a) Mind numbing

Listening to them, I see two distinct worlds—one of the family, caught in a web of poverty, burdened by the stigma of caste in which they are born; the other a vicious circle of the sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrates and the politicians. Together they have imposed the baggage on the child that he cannot put down. Before he is aware, he accepts it as naturally as his father. To do anything else would mean to dare. And daring is not part of his growing up. When I sense a flash of it in Mukesh I am cheered. “I want to be a motor mechanic,” he repeats. He will go to a garage and learn. But the garage is a long way from his home. “I will walk,” he insists. “Do you also dream of flying a plane?” He is suddenly silent. “No,” he says, staring at the ground.

Question. Which two worlds has the narrator divided the people of Firozabad?
(a) The exploited and the exploiters
(b) The educated and the uneducated
(c) The dreamers and the crushers
(d) The males and females
Answer: (a) The exploited and the exploiters

Question. What is the role of Sahukars
(a) To establish to bangle industry
(b) To empoly the people
(c) To lend money on higher rate of interest
(d) To share the burden of the working class
Answer: (c) To lend money on higher rate of interest

Question. What is first and foremost to do something different?
(a) Dare to face police
(b) Dare to dream big
(c) Dare to quit family
(d) Dare to earn
Answer: (b) Dare to dream big

Question. The word 'stigma' in the extract means .........
(a) esteem
(b) honour
(c) exaltation
(d) blot
Answer: (d) blot

My acquaintance with the barefoot ragpickers leads me to Seemapuri, a place on the periphery of Delhi yet miles away from it, metaphorically. Those who live here are squatters who came from Bangladesh back in 1971. Saheb's family is among them. Seemapuri was then a wilderness. It still is, but it is no longer empty. In structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin, devoid of sewage, drainage or running water, live 10,000 ragpickers. They have lived here for more than thirty years without an identity, without permits but with ration cards that get their names on voters' lists and enable them to buy grain. Food is more important for survival than an identity. "If at the end of the day we can feed our families and go to bed without an aching stomach, we would rather live here than in the fields that gave us no grain," say a group of women in tattered saris when I ask them why they left their beautiful land of green fields and rivers. Wherever they find food, they pitch their tents that become transit homes. Children grow up in them, becoming partners in survival.

Question. What leads the narrator to Seemapuri?
(a) Her tryst with destiny
(b) Her zeal to explore the world
(c) Her acquaintance with the barefoot rag-pickers
(d) Her ancestry in Seemapuri
Answer: (c) Her acquaintance with the barefoot rag-pickers

Question. What is more important for survival?
(a) Food
(b) Money
(c) Identity
(d) Respect
Answer: (a) Food

Question. How do children grow up in transit homes?
(a) As weak and the malnourished
(b) As pick-pockets and thieves
(c) As the brave and the patriot
(d) As partners in survival
Answer: (d) As partners in survival

Question. Why the narrator described Seemapuri as 'no longer empty'?
(a) Because of structures of mud
(b) Because of roofs of tin and tarpaulin
(c) Because of devoid of sewage
(d) All of the options
Answer: (d) All of the options

Savita, a young girl in a drab pink dress, sits alongside and elderly woman, soldering pieces of glass. As her hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine, I wonder if she knows the sanctity of the bangles she helps make. It symbolises an Indian woman's suhaag, auspiciousness in marriage. It will dawn on her suddenly one day when her head is draped with a red veil, her hands dyed red with henna, and red bangles rolled onto her wrists. She will then become a bride. Like the old woman beside her who became one many years ago. She still has bangles on her wrist, but no light in her eyes.

Question. How do Savita's hands move while sitting alongside an elderly woman for soldering?
(a) Like the tongs of a machine
(b) Like the needle of a sewing machine
(c) Like the hammer of a blacksmith
(d) like the pillar of an electrician
Answer: (a) Like the tongs of a machine

Question. When will Savita come to know the sanctity of bangles?
(a) When she grows older
(b) When the elderly woman teaches her the same
(c) When red bangles are rolled onto her wrists
(d) When she is empolyed in the bangle industry
Answer: (c) When red bangles are rolled onto her wrists

Question. Why is Savita's voice drained of any joy?
(a) She has been widowed
(b) She has lost her eyes
(c) She has no children
(d) She has been paralysed
Answer: (a) She has been widowed

Question. Auspiciousness in the extract means .........
(a) impropriety
(b) discord
(c) immorality
(d) compatibility
Answer: (d) compatibility