Kamala Das (1934-2009) was born
in Malabar, Kerala. She is recognised as one of India’s foremost poets. Her
works are known for their originality, versatility and the indigenous flavour of
the soil. Kamala Das has published many novels and short stories in English and
Malayalam under the name ‘Madhavikutty’. In addition to five books of poetry.
She is a sensitive writer who captures the complex subtleties of human
relationships in lyrical idiom,
My Mother at Sixty-six
is an example.
1 My Mother at Sixty-six
Driving from my parent’s
home to Cochin last Friday
morning, I saw my mother,
beside me,
doze, open mouthed, her face
ashen like that
of a corpse and realised with pain
that she was as old as she
looked but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at Young
Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes, but after the airport’s
security check, standing a few yards
away, I looked again at her, wan, pale
as a late winter’s moon and felt that old
familiar ache, my childhood’s fear,
but all I said was, see you soon, Amma,
all I did was smile and smile and
smile…
sprinting: short fast race, running
wan: colourless
Exercise
Think it out
Question 1
What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
Question 2
Why are the young trees described as ‘sprinting’?
Question 3
Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children ‘spilling out of
their homes’?
Question 4
Why has the mother been compared to the ‘late winter’s moon’?
Question 5
What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
