MY MOTHER AT SIXTY-SIX BY KAMALA DAS || SUMMARY, EXPLANATION, QUESTION ANSWER

my mother at sixty six by kamala das

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 SECURITY CHECK, STANDING A FEW YARDS AWAY, I LOOKED AGAIN AT HER , WAN , PALE AS A LATE WINTER'S MOOON 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... .

ABOUT THE POET

KAMALA DAS (1934) 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'. SOME OF HER WORKS IN ENGLISH INCLUDE THE NOVEL ALPHABET OF LUST (1977) , A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES PADMAVATI THE HARLOT AND OTHER STORIES (1992) , IN ADDITION TO FIVE BOOKS OF POETRY . SHE IS A SENSITIVE WRITER WHO CAPTURES THE COMPLEX SUBTITLES OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS IN LYRICAL IDIOM, MY MOTHER AT SIXTY SIX IS AN EXAMPLE.

 QUESTION ANSWER

What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?

She felt painful while realizing that her mother was as old as she looks in reality. Her feeling was emotional with pain for her mother, who was experiencing the difficulties of the old stage of her life.

 

Why are the young trees described as ‘sprinting’?

Because she was driving and she looked outside the vehicle, it was looking trees are moving away from her that’s why she used “sprinting” for those young trees.

 

Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’?

She was very sad while seeing her mother beside her, doze, open mouthed, her face ashen like that of a corpse and realized with pain due to this she put that thought away and tried to see something involved with happiness so she used ‘spelling out of their homes.’ For those children who were playing outside.

 

Why has the mother been compared to the late winter’s moon?

She compared her mother with it because her mother is similar to late winter’s moon as she is old.

 

What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?

Parting word of the poet signify that she will meet with her ‘amma’ very soon. Her continuous smile was to hide the sadness of leaving her mother.

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