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organised, we are the ones who will be hauled up by the police, beaten and dragged to jail for doing something illegal,” they say. There is no leader among them, no one who could help them see things differently. Their fathers are as tired as they are. They talk endlessly in a spiral that moves from poverty to apathy to greed and to injustice. 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 bureaucrats 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. In his small murmur 1. What makes the city of there is an embarrassment that has not Firozabad famous? yet turned into regret. He is content to 2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry. dream of cars that he sees hurtling down 3. How is Mukesh’s attitude to his the streets of his town. Few airplanes fly situation different from that of over Firozabad. his family? Understanding the text 1. What could be some of the reasons for the migration of people from villages to cities? 2. Would you agree that promises made to poor children are rarely kept? Why do you think this happens in the incidents narrated in the text? 3. What forces conspire to keep the workers in the bangle industry of Firozabad in poverty? Talking about the text 1. How, in your opinion, can Mukesh realise his dream? 2. Mention the hazards of working in the glass bangles industry. 3. Why should child labour be eliminated and how? Lost Spring/19 Reprint 2026-27