my mother at the age of 62

7/30/2019 My Mother at the Age of 62

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/my-mother-at-the-age-of-62 1/9

My Mother at

Sixty-six Kamala Das



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 subtleties of human

relationships in lyricalidiom, My Mother at Sixty-six is an

example.



Now read the poem “ 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 withpain

that she thought away, and

looked but soon

put that thought away, and

looked out at youngtrees sprinting, the merry

children spilling

out of their homes, but after theairport’s

security check, standing a fewyards



“ My Mother at Sixty-six”

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 : colorless



Explanat ion

This poem captures the small, yet relevant thoughts

and feelings that bind the mother-daughter relationship. While driving from her parents' houseto Cochin, one friday, the poet sees her mother dozenext to her, her mouth open and her face lifelesswith age, ashen like the face of a dead body. As shesees her mother sleep peacefully, she realises thetruth of life, that all men grow old, and one day, die.

She realises, with pain that her mother too, hasgrown old now and will soon have to leave the world.To distract herself from this disturbing thought, shelooks out of the window of the car. At this point, thepoet brings the image of young trees apparentlysprinting and merry children running out of their homes, in order to highlight the contrast between theyoung, playful world outside and her ageing, feeblemother inside the car.



Explanat ion

The poet looks at her mother again and notices her mother's wan, pale face, as a late winter's moon.This simile stresses on the fact that her mother is

now frail and has entered the winter of her life, ie, theend of her life. As she watches her mother, she feelsthe old familiar ache that she used to experience as

a child- the fear that her mother would die and leaveher, all alone. She is torn between the fear of her mother leaving her and the realization that ageing is

a natural process and that death is inevitable.

In the end, the poet decides to hide all these feelingsfrom her mother and waves her goodbye, hoping to

see her mother again, the next time she comes tovisit. In order to mask her fears and insecurities, shesmiles as she waves her mother goodbye.



Summary on

“My mother at sixty six”

This poem revolves around the theam of advancingage and the fear adheared to it of loss andseparation.The poet is on the way to airport in

Cochin ,when she is stuck by the realization of theadvancing age of her mother.It is very difficult for her to accept that her mother is creeping into thegrips of old age.When she looks at her mother sittingby her side ,she notices her corpse like ashen facewhich reminds her of her aproaching death.She ispale and worn out.



Summary

The green trees racing past the speeding car are grimreminders of time which has passed. The joyouschildren playing outside give her some respite a sheis lost in her thoughts of old age.The childrenrepresent old youth, energy and life.she is probably

driven back to the days of her idyllic youth when themother had been young.Now she was encircled inthe fear of losing her,this made her feel insecure.Shehad this feeling when ever she looked at her mother as she had lost the blush of youth and middle ageand now in her twiligh years had become as pale asthe winter moon.

She is happy to see her mother is still breathing. Butshe is beset with sorrow and insecurity as shedeparts at the airport bidding goodbye to her mother and trying to hide her fears by smiling as she lookedat her.



Prepared by:-Akash shukla

ThanksEducomp Family

my mother at the age of 62

Documents