mother tongue by padma sachdev summary.marks-10
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Answer:
Lines 1-4
I approached a stem
(…)
To give me a quill.
The poem, ‘Mother Tongue,’ opens with the poet approaching a stem hanging on a reed. To the stem (as if it can talk!), she asks for a quill. What would a poet possibly do with a quill besides writing poems with it? It is a simple thought expressed in simple and direct language. But this poem’s like an onion with layers that come off as one keeps on with the process of reading.
Lines 5-9
Are you some sort of an accountant
(…)
Where you need a new pen
Every other day he asked.
The stem, visibly annoyed, remarks that he (the stem) gave her one in the recent past. Further, he goes on to ask her why she requires a new one so soon. Besides this, he also asks her what she has done with the quill she already got from him. Before she answers, the stem continues to ask her another question. He asks her whether she is an accountant of a Shah (master) for her to need a new quill every day to do her accounting work.
Lines 10-18
No, I don’t work for a Shah
I said, but for a Shahni, very kind,
(…)
That Shahni is my mother tongue
Dogri
Now, the poet answers the stem’s questions saying that she works for a Shahni (mistress) and not a Shah. She also gives away details of her mistress by calling her: very kind, very well off, and her (the mistress’) many loyal servants who are ‘ever-ready’ to happily carry out her orders. She further adds that her mistress is her mother tongue Dogri.
Lines 19-24
Give me, a quill, quickly
She must be looking for me
(…)
Take it
I too am her servant.
At this point in ‘Mother Tongue,’ the poet becomes hasty and urges the stem to give her a quill as quickly as possible. This is because she realizes that her mistress must be looking for her already. As a loyal servant, she does not want to keep her Shahni waiting for long. After hearing her out, the reed cuts off his hand and gives it to her. And while handing it to her, he says that he too is a servant of Dogri, the beloved Shahni.
Mother tongue by padma sachdev summary. marks -10