MY MOTHER AT SIXTY-SIX
1. Who is travelling with the poet?
2. How are they travelling?
3. Where are they going?
4. How is mother described?
5. What is the poetic device used to describe mother.
6. What did the poet realise on seeing her mother?
7. Pick out two sights the poet noticed as she looked
out of the window?
8. The poet contrasts Mother and sights outside.
Describe in your own words.
9. How does the poet describe her mother after she
completes the airport's secutity check?
10. What is the pietic device employed by the poet?
11. Why does the poet tell "see you soon"Amma"evenwhen she
sees her mother weak and pale?
12. Why does the poet smile as she bids goodbye to
mother?
Answers
Question.1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
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 ……… (Foreign 2014; Modified)
(a) What was the poet’s childhood fear?
(b) What were the poet’s parting words?
(c) What is the poetic device used in these lines?
(d) Why did the poet smile and smile?
Answer. (a) In her childhood, the poet was insecure about losing her mother, just as all young children often are.
(b) The poet’s parting words were, “See you soon, Amma”, which are suggestive of the hope that they will meet again.
(c) The poetic device used in these lines is simile, where the mother’s dull and lifeless face is compared to a late winter’s moon.
(d) The poet smiled and smiled (meaning that she smiled continuously) because she was trying to hide her real feelings. She feared the fact that she might not see her mother again, which left her almost in tears.
Question.2. Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.
……….but soon
put that thought away and
looked out at young
trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes……………
(a) What thought did the poet drive away from her mind?
(b) What did she see when she looked out of the car?
(c) How do you know that the joyful scene didn’t help her drive away the painful thought from her mind?
(d) What are the merry children symbolic of? (Compartment 2014; Modified)
or
(a) Which thought did the poet put away?
(b) What do the ‘sprinting trees’ signify?
(c) What are “the merry children spilling out of their homes”, symbolic of?
(d) Why does the poet make use of the images of ‘young trees sprinting’ and ‘merry children spilling’? (Delhi 2014; Modified)
or
(a) Who looked out at the young trees?
(b) Which thought did she put away?
(c) What do young sprinting trees signify?
(d) Why are the trees described as sprinting? (Delhi 2008)
Answer. (a) The poet drove away the painful thought of the distressing reality that her mother was getting old and she might die anytime.
(b) When she looked out of the car, she saw young trees on the roadside, which appeared to be moving. She also saw a group of children, merrily rushing out of their homes to play.
(c) As the poet passed through security check at the airport and happened to look at her mother, she was again haunted by the same fear of losing her to death. This shows that the joyful scene earlier didn’t help drive away the painful thought from her mind.
(d) The merry children are symbolic of the exuberance of youth. The energetic and lively children present a contrast to the poet’s mother who has grown old and pale.
or
Answer. (a) The poet put away the thought of the-distressing reality of her mother getting old and of her impending death.
(b) The ‘sprinting trees’ signify time that has passed at a fast pace.
(c) The merry children epitomise bubbly youth. They represent the exuberance and liveliness of young age.
(d) The poet makes use of these images to emphasise the contrast between old age and youth.
or
Answer. (a) The poet Kamala Das looked out at young trees.
(b) Seeing her aged mother, she felt insecure about the fact that she might be separated from her mother. The poet was also feeling guilty for neglecting her. She wondered if she would see her mother alive next time. However, she soon put these thoughts away.
(c) The young sprinting trees symbolise happiness, strength and vigour which are the characteristics of youth in contrast to the dullness of old age.
(d) As the poet looked outside the window of her moving car, the trees appeared to be moving fast in the opposite direction. So, they are described as sprinting.
Question.3. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.
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 …
(a) Where was the poet driving to?
(b) Why was her mother’s face looking like that of a corpse?
(c) What did the poet notice about her mother?
(d) Why was the realisation painful? (All India 2013; Modified)
Answer. (a) The poet was driving to Cochin airport from her parent’s home.
(b) Her mother’s face had lost all its glow and colour. It was nearly lifeless. That is why it was looking like a corpse’s face.
(c) The poet noticed that her mother was sleeping with her mouth open. Her face looked like that of a corpse. She suddenly realised that her mother had become very old.
(d) The realisation that her mother had grown very old was painful because it brought with it the distressing thought that she was also nearing her death, whose cruel hands would separate the poet from her mother.